Oct. 3--PORT ARTHUR -- Utility trucks were plentiful here Sunday as 13,000 workers from across the country worked to get electricity back to Southeast Texas, where 171,660 customers were still without power.

Rita caused more damage to the company's transmission grid than any other storm, said Don Pumphrey, customer service manager for Entergy Texas Inc., which serves most of Southeast Texas. Of Entergy's 270 transmission structures in the region, 57 were knocked out in southern Jefferson County alone.

"We are doing many surgeries to create bypasses in those breaks," he said. "Right now we have a vein to replace an artery. This is a stopgap measure."

Pumphrey said residents should stay away until power is fully restored. He stressed that generators must not be hooked up to home circuit boxes, because a current may be sent up the line. Workers at the other end think they are working with a dead line, when in fact it could be live, he said.

The water and sewer systems in mid- and south Jefferson County continue to operate on emergency generator power and are subject to failure. The generator powering the Groves city water and sewer facilities failed and is not operating using two smaller generators.

Electricity status can be checked at www.entergy.com.