Lafayette – SLEMCO will cut power to flooding communities in St. Landry and St. Martin parishes. The outages will likely affect unflooded areas as well.

The electric co-op’s crews will not be allowed to enter areas that will be flooded once the Morganza Spillway is open. This will most likely affect the areas of Krotz Springs, Butte La Rose, Three Mile Lake, Catahoula and Stephensville.

As water rises to a point where homes, camps and meter bases begin to flood, SLEMCO will be turning off power to prevent damage to electrical systems and to prevent possible electrocutions.

The power will most likely be turned off neighborhood by neighborhood, not at individual locations. Once an area begins to flood, the entire area will be de-energized. This will mean that elevated structures that have not flooded will be without power along with lower lying structures around them that have flooded.

SLEMCO customers in the areas that will be affected should begin making plans now to move possessions and relocate valuable items, including food stored in freezers, to higher ground.

As soon as it is safely possible, power will be restored to the affected areas.