Power outages continue across the southern U.S. as a heat wave grips Texas

Forrest Avenue, in the South Highland neighborhood, is dark except for streetlights in the early hours of Saturday, June 17, 2023, following a storm, in Shreveport, La.

Henrietta Wildsmith/AP

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 300,000 customers in the southern U.S. remained without power Monday following damaging weekend storms, leaving residents searching for relief as sweltering temperatures continued to scorch the region.

At least one person in Oklahoma died due to the prolonged outages, officials said.

The bulk of outages were in Oklahoma, where heavy storms Saturday night carried winds as strong as 80 mph around Tulsa, according to the National Weather Service. About 165,000 customers around the city still had no power Monday as crews scrambled to repair more than 700 broken poles and downed wires, said Amy Brown, a spokeswoman for Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

One person who used a respirator died because of the power outage, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said at a city news conference.

Power providers warned that some outages may not be fixed until the end of the week, and Bynum urged residents to keep in mind family and neighbors who are reliant on electronic medical equipment.

“Please check on them,” he said.

In all, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana had more than 300,000 customers without electricity as of Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

In Louisiana, officials closed nearly two dozen state offices Monday because of the risks of severe weather. On top of the outages, a heat wave continued bringing dangerous triple-digit temperatures to Texas, and some parts of the state were under excessive heat warnings that were set to…