Rayne, Acadiana area hit with widespread power failure

Thousands affected throughout Acadiana

RAYNE - Due to a breaker failure in the southside substation located on U.S. Hwy. 90 West here, thousands of Entergy customers of Acadia, Lafayette and Vermilion parishes experienced power outages for about three hours Sunday evening.
“It was basically a chain reaction from a breaker failure in the south substation along Highway 90 that caused all of this,” said city Utilities Manager Todd Chaisson.
Darkness fell upon the communities of Rayne, Duson, Ebenezer, Leleux, and parts of Crowley and Scott a few minutes after 8 p.m. Sunday. Power was restored near 11 p.m. later that evening.
“Rayne has three substations and the south location is a large line that runs along Highway 90, a direct connection for a main transmission line for Energy.,” Chaisson continued. “That’s the reason so many cities were affected by the outage.”
Mayor Charles “Chuck” Robichaux commended the Rayne city workers for a quick response of what could have been a long, hot evening for many people.
“Our guys were out there as soon as the power went out,” Robichaux said of the electrical crews working into the night Sunday.
“Actually, we have been upgrading and replacing these large breakers for a few months now. With the amount of pressure the system is under with the extreme heat, something had to give,” Robichaux added. “Thankfully, they were able to find the problem and fix it relatively quickly. It could have been much worse.”
Robichaux assures Rayne citizens that upgrades are continuing on a daily basis to improve all of the city’s infrastructure, including electrical, water and sewer services for the entire city.

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