Alabama Power restores service to all customers affected by June 1 storms

Monday’s storms came fast and hit hard – sweeping across nearly every part of Alabama and leaving many families and businesses without power. At the height of the storm, customers in about 93% of Alabama Power’s service area experienced some level of impact – a reflection of how quickly the system moved and how widespread the damage became.

“What made this storm so impactful was how quickly it intensified and how much of our service territory it affected all at once,” said Corey Sweeney, who manages Alabama Power’s Storm Center. “Strong winds and already saturated ground brought down a lot of trees, which created challenges for restoration. Our crews were ready and got to work right away, but when you have that many outages across such a wide area, it takes time to work through them safely.”

Wind gusts topping 50 miles per hour and rain-soaked ground from a wetter-than-normal May brought down trees and power lines across the state. In Alabama – where more than 70% of the land is forested – that kind of damage adds up quickly. By the time the storm passed, the service area faced more than 2,300 separate outage events in just a few hours, meaning crews were responding to many issues at once across a wide area.

Even with those challenges, crews moved quickly. Teams from Alabama Power and 14 other states joined together – more than 2,000 additional lineworkers – to help restore service. They worked around the clock, clearing debris, replacing poles and making repairs to restore service safely.

“Everyone stepped up with a shared commitment to the communities we serve,” said Scott Moore, senior vice president of Power Delivery, Alabama Power. “Their quick response and dedication made a real difference for our customers. And thank you to our customers for their patience and encouragement as our crews worked to get the lights back on.”

Alabama Power’s investments in outage prevention technology helped reduce the storm’s impact on customers – preventing outages for more than 38,000 people and avoiding more than 6.3 million minutes of interruption. As a result, nearly 15% of the 230,000 customers affected did not experience an extended outage.

Those tools, along with crew dedication, helped speed up restoration across the state. As of June 3, service was restored to all customers – a reflection of the around-the-clock dedication of crews in the field and teams supporting them behind the scenes.

For future storm updates and outage information, customers can visit AlabamaPower.com/storm or check the outage map at OutageMap.AlabamaPower.com.