Storm leaves 170,000 without power in U.S. Gulf Coast

May 26 (Reuters) - Almost 170,000 homes and businesses were without power early on Tuesday from Texas to Mississippi after severe storms battered the U.S. Gulf Coast states on Monday, according to local utilities.

The storms moved from west to east, hitting Texas first.

Power companies in Texas said they expect to restore power to most customers later on Tuesday, but would not be able to restore service in flooded areas until after assessing the damage after the water recedes.

The following lists outages by utility:

Power Company State Out Now CenterPoint TX 54,200 AEP Swepco TX, LA, AR 43,100 Oncor TX 23,600 Entergy LA 20,900 Entergy AR 15,800 Entergy TX 6,000 Cleco LA 2,600 OGE OK 2,500 Entergy MS 1,100

Total 169,800

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli) ((scott.disavino@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223-6072; Reuters Messaging: scott.disavino.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: UTILITIES POWER/OUTAGES