EVANSVILLE — Power outages are going to last for days.
A Centerpoint Energy spokesman pounded home that point by repeating it several times Monday afternoon.
“We want to set the expectation here, and that is: Prepare for a multi-day outage,” spokesman Noah Stubbs said. “Prepare for multi-day outages.”
Owing to heavy ice and snow, what CenterPoint has called “most impactful winter storm in more than 15 years” had left 43,330 customers without power as of 2:31 p.m. CST Monday . The number was 41,848 as of 2 p.m. It has teetered between 40,000 and 50,000 for most of the day as dozens of crews and hundreds of line workers labor to restore power.
CenterPoint has about 150,000 customers in Southwestern Indiana, according to the company.
A peak of about 60,000 customers were without power at 5 a.m., Stubbs said.
The weather — branches falling under the weight of freezing rain and striking power lines — is knocking out power again in some places soon after it is restored. The frenetic pace of the work is reflected in another number CenterPoint’s spokesman provided Monday: There have been 29,000 restorations since 3 p.m. Sunday.