06/17/15  Dredging Barge Blamed for Electric Blackout Affecting 6,500 Ouachita Electric Customers

 

Almost 65 hundred Ouachita Electric Coop Company customers were with out power for several hours yesterday due to a mishap involving a dredging barge on the Ouachita River near the McClellan generating plant on the river.  Perry Johnson a Ouachita Electric employee told us what occurred.

There were no reported injuries in the mishap.  The dredging barge was  perhaps under contract to the Corps of Engineers.  The pilot of that dredge evidently forgot that the river had come up and didn't allow enough room for the boom on his boat and the overhead line.Power was restored to all customers by about 4:45 yesterday afternoon.