AEP customers regaining power

McALLEN -- More than 104,000 American Electric Power customers in the Rio Grande Valley were still without power as of 9 p.m. Friday.

The number is down from Thursday's peak of 205,000 Valley customers without power in the wake of Hurricane Dolly, said Lauro Solis, a spokesman for AEP Texas Central Co.

The majority of customers still without power Friday were in the Harlingen, Port Isabel and Weslaco areas, he said.

"We understand that they're unhappy, but we're doing everything that we can," Solis said. "We are working from sunup to sundown."

About 2,000 AEP employees from New Mexico, Louisiana, West Texas and the Houston area are expected to arrive later today and throughout the weekend to help restore power, he said.

Power should be restored to at least 95 percent of customers in the cities of Edinburg, McAllen, Mission and Rio Grande City by Sunday night, and damage assessments for the eastern part of the Valley are currently being completed, according to AEP's Web site.

There are still more than 500 utility poles in the Valley that are down, Solis said.

"We're going to work until we get everything repaired," he said.

The following cities and their vicinities still had AEP customers without power as of 6 p.m. Friday, the latest time for which a breakdown was available:

Edinburg: 8,400 customers without power

Harlingen: 25,000

McAllen: 6,500

Mission: 6,800

Pharr/San Juan/Alamo area: 9,900

Port Isabel and part of Brownsville: 19,000

Rio Grande City: 4

San Benito: 7,600

Weslaco/Donna: 29,000

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Lynnea Olivarez covers general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4422.