Staff report

BEAUMONT — More than 1,500 people were working to restore power to the remaining customers who lost power during storms that began May 9.

Entergy said that late Sunday afternoon, about 7,300 customers remained without power, down from more than 55,000 at the peak of the storms early Friday morning. Additional storms hampered restoration and resulted in a few more outages Saturday.

In an issued statement, Entergy said more than 400 customers sought assistance at the mobile customer information center, where Entergy representatives were answering restoration questions and assisting with account information. The center is located near the Sears entrance at Central Mall, 3100 FM 365 in Port Arthur. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday.

While 87 percent of customers have been restored so far, workers are addressing some hard-to-reach areas, such as back lots, that are inaccessible by line trucks. Crews have to work out of pickup trucks, so residents might not see them working, but they are indeed there, making repairs to get the lights on, the company said.

Likewise, customers may see a number of vegetation crews working, but they may be in and out quickly.

“It can be frustrating to see trucks move away from an area before power is restored. Just because you don’t see a truck in your neighborhood doesn’t mean we aren’t working. There could be damage down the line that needs to be repaired first, before the crews can safely restore power on your street,” Stuart Barrett, vice president of customer service for Entergy Texas, said.

A company spokesman said customers could visit Entergystormcenter.com to find up-to-date information, plus links to View Outages, where you can learn about the status of restoration in your area on an almost real-time basis.