JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - Nearly 5,700 Entergy Arkansas customers remained without power Saturday afternoon following a winter storm that dumped sleet and freezing rain on trees and powerlines.

As of 5:45 p.m. Saturday, Entergy Arkansas reported 5,717 customers across the state without electricity. Counties in Region 8 included:

• Craighead: 1
• Crittenden: 1,190
• Cross: 217
• Mississippi: 687
• Poinsett: 226
• Randolph: 2
• St. Francis: 1,726
• Woodruff: 146

“The number of outages will fluctuate and likely increase as the storm continues to bring additional precipitation,” said Brandi Hinkle, a spokesperson for Entergy.

She said Thursday that approximately 1,600 Entergy Arkansas crews and contractors were working to restore power.

“Despite the conditions, scouting and assessment teams continue working to assess damages, and distribution and transmission crews are making repairs and restoring power where possible, with additional teams en route to the most impacted areas,” Hinkle added. “Teams will continue to work throughout the day to remove debris where necessary and initiate the safe restoration of power.”

Rob Roedel with the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas said approximately 8,000 members were without power shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday.

“Crews are working to restore service to impacted members,” Roedel said. He added that trees and limbs on power lines caused many of the outages.

Craighead Electric Cooperative reported 768 customers were without power early Thursday morning, adding that its team had been “working throughout the night to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. That number had dwindled to 230 by 9 a.m. Friday, with the majority of outages reported in Crittenden, Greene, and Poinsett counties.

According to the utility’s outage map, the number had dwindled to five customers in Poinsett County as of 5:50 p.m. Saturday.

Craighead Electric said in a media release that ice was removed from switches within the Earle substation and that scattered outages were also reported in Craighead and Greene counties Thursday evening.

“Craighead Electric is working as safely and quickly as possible to repair and rebuild the damage cause to our infrastructure following the weather,” the utility’s CEO, Jeremiah Sloan, said. “Our primary focus is to restore power while keeping our members and staff safe as the weather subsides.”

Jonesboro City Water and Light reported 12 outages at one point Friday morning, but reported none by Saturday afternoon.

To report power outages:

Clay County Electric Cooperative:

• 1-800-521-2450
• Report via text message by clicking here

Craighead Electric Cooperative:

• 1-888-771-7772
• Register for text messaging services, click here
• Outage map

Entergy Arkansas:

• 1-800-968-8243 (1-800-9OUTAGE)
• ·Sign up for text message alerts, click here
• Outage map

Farmers Electric Cooperative:

• 870-523-3691

Jonesboro City Water & Light:

• (870) 930-3300
• Outage map

Mississippi County Electric Cooperative:

• 1-800-439-4563
• Outage map

North Arkansas Electric Cooperative:

• Baxter County - 870-425-2141
• Fulton County - 870-895-3221
• Izard County - 870-670-5600
• Sharp County - 870-994-2191
• Report an outage from the NAEC mobile app, download it here.
• Outage map

Osceola Municipal Light & Power

• (870) 563-5245

Paragould Light Water and Cable

• (870) 239-7700

Piggott Municipal Light Water and Sewer

• (870) 598-3208

Road Conditions

On Thursday, ice-covered roads throughout Region 8 made travel treacherous. By 9 a.m. Friday, however, the Arkansas Department of Transportation reported many roads in our area were clear with a few ice patches remaining.

Check road conditions:

• Arkansas: IDriveArkansas
• Missouri: MODOT Traveler
• Tennessee: TDOT SmartWay

Weather Forecast

Meteorologist Zach Holder said the Winter Storm Warnings had expired.

“We’ll see a little bit of sun today before clouds build back in,” he said Friday morning. “Keep your eyes upward as ice may start to fall off power lines and trees.”

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