It is being called the worst disaster in Texas history. And AEP Texas' service area bore the brunt of damage from the the strongest storm in terms of wind speed to hit the country since Charley in 2004. AEP Texas estimates last week that at least 2,100 utility poles and 55 transmission structures had been damaged or knocked down by the storm. Most of the utility poles were knocked down.
On Aug. 28, AEP Texas requested an additional 1,000 personnel over and above the 3,600 who had already committed to the restoration of power in the Coastal Bend in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
As the storm approached the Coastal Bend area, AEP Texas called in 2,000 personnel from outside its service territory to assist the 300 personnel already located in the area. Since then, the number of personnel committed to the restoration effort had grown to 3,600. Crews from Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and other states had arrived and were working to restore power to those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.
As of Sept. 6, AEP Texas had 34,238 customer outages. AEP Texas, like other Texas utilities, kept customers continually informed of safety warnings and outage updates on social media. Following are images that the utility has shared with the public of what damage and conditions its workers have had to face to restore and rebuild.