How Proactive Tree Trimming Helped Mitigate Storm Damage

SWEPCO crews were up early across Shreveport and the northern stretches of Bossier Parish Wednesday morning, regrouping after a night of storms that brought lightning, heavy rain, and more than a thousand outages.

While some homeowners woke up in the dark, SWEPCO says the overall impact was far less severe than feared, thanks to months of steady forestry work and a little help from the trees already shedding their leaves.

A Strong Test for Recent Tree Trimming

The storm brought long stretches of lightning and steady rainfall, but the widespread fifty mile per hour wind gusts forecasted for the region never fully materialized. According to SWEPCO’s Michael Corbin, the timing of their tree trimming work played a major role in keeping outage numbers low.

Corbin told KEEL News the utility invested extra dollars this year to trim circuits they knew had been trouble spots. That effort, combined with lighter trees due to early leaf fall, helped the system hold up.

Corbin noted that most of the reported damage involved limbs hitting lines and a handful of poles needing to be replaced. Crews were already staged at daybreak preparing to spread out across Bossier Parish.

Shreveport Swepco Crews Navigating Water, Limbs, and Rural Spots

High water created travel problems for drivers overnight, though SWEPCO crews managed to keep moving. Corbin said their vehicles can handle most city flooding, but rural right-of-ways sometimes require tracked equipment or even boats. He added that while some areas south of town saw stronger winds, the bulk of the system came through in better shape than expected.

Corbin said early estimates put local outages around 1,200 at their peak, a number SWEPCO believes they can restore quickly. He is cautiously optimistic that most customers will have power back by the end of the day.

What To Do in Shreveport About Low-Hanging Limbs

If residents notice limbs near power lines, Corbin encourages them to report it. Homeowners can use the SWEPCO app, the website, or the customer care line. Their forestry team will inspect the area and determine whether trimming is needed.

SWEPCO reminds customers that the app can also report outages, check usage, and flag streetlight problems. As for the dark stretch of I-20 streetlights drivers saw this morning, Corbin confirmed that those belong to the City of Shreveport.