Thousands Already Without Power as Strong Storms Race Through West Alabama

Thousands of Alabama Power customers are without power after strong storms raced through the state Saturday afternoon.

Storms took down trees, brought thousands of lightning strikes and caused damage in Northwest Alabama counties.

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After a day of restoring power, at 9 p.m. Saturday Alabama Power was making good progress on getting lights back on across the region.

Alabama Power reports easily more than 20,000 outages.

• 7,500 outages in Walker County
• 2,600 in Tuscaloosa County
• 2,000 in Winston County
• 2,500 outages in Fayette County
• 1,700 in Pickens County
• 600 in Lamar County
• 2,500 in Marion County.

In a statement, the utility provider said they had dedicated additional resources to respond after Saturday's storms.

"Alabama Power crews are working around the clock to restore power to customers affected by severe weather," they said.

    •    We have added 1,500 additional outside resources to join our line crews and storm team to support restoration. 

    •    Damage assessment is underway in areas where it is safe to do so. This critical step allows us to identify damage, safely dispatch crews and resources to restore power, and estimate how long restoration will take.

    •    Did you experience a blink in your service as severe weather rolled in? That is Alabama Power’s outage prevention technology working for you.

    •    Thank you for your patience as we work to get customers affected by the storms back on as quickly and safely as possible.

    •    Your safety is our top priority. Stay away from downed power lines. 

    •    Follow us on social media for storm updates from the field and information on our storm response at alabamapower.com/storm

Stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread for more info on outages and damage, and to Townsquare Media radio stations and websites for info on watches and warnings.