Storm leaves 145,000 Oncor Tex customers powerless

NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - Heavy rain and lighting continued to hamper Oncor crews as they restored power to the 145,000 homes and businesses in the Dallas/Fort Worth area still without power early Thursday, the power company said in a release.

That was down from 260,000 outages at the peak of the storm.

High winds and rain pounded the area, knocking down poles, trees and power lines.

Oncor said it called in 550 additional contract line crew members, 1,100 additional tree-trimming crew members, a 60-person storm team from OGE Energy Corp's (OGE.N) Oklahoma Gas & Electric and a 60-person team from CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP.N).

Oncor expects contractors to arrive Thursday morning, some from as far away as Alabama, Missouri and Louisiana.

Oncor transmits and delivers power to about 3 million homes and businesses in Texas.

Energy Future Holdings owns three business units - TXU Energy, a competitive electricity retailer; Luminant, a competitive power generation business; and Oncor, a regulated power distribution and transmission business. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino)