More than 48,000 homes across Shelby County without power after Tuesday storm
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the amount of MLGW money allocated for tree-trimming.
A storm that rolled through the Mid-South on Tuesday has knocked out power for more than 48,000 customers serviced by Memphis Light, Gas & Water as of 4:25 p.m. Wednesday. About 12% of MLGW's overall customers remain without power.
Memphis was projected earlier Tuesday to avoid the worst of the storm that rolled through, but parts of the city were struck by what appeared to be the brunt of the storm that brought strong 65 mph winds and heavy rainfall in its wake, according to radar from the National Weather Service in Memphis. Memphis is also under a heat advisory, according to NWS, until 8 p.m. Wednesday.
MLGW CEO Doug McGowen said those still without power should be prepared for at least three days of outage. "Today I don't have the current estimate for restoration," McGowen said to reporters after MLGW's board meeting Wednesday morning. "I would say based on history, it's going to be a couple days at least." McGowen said the timetable will be refined as MLGW assesses the damage.
By Wednesday afternoon, the areas experiencing the most outages were North Memphis, South Memphis, East Memphis, Bartlett and Germantown.
By 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 2,704 outages were reported across the county, with 122,286 customers without power, 24% more than 40 minutes prior.
"A sudden, severe thunderstorm bringing high wind gusts has caused extensive damage across the MLGW service area, knocking out power to more than 100,000 customers," MLGW said in a statement posted late Tuesday to social media. "MLGW is working to assess the damage, repair infrastructure and restore customers as quickly and safely as we can."
In a late Tuesday statement, McGowen explained the source of the latest outage, and what is being done to fix it.
"The lightning directly impacted some of TVA's transmission system stations as well as MLGW distribution system substations," McGowen said. "Thirty-five contract repair crews will join our MLGW crews first thing in the morning to help with the restoration process, and they will be joined by 37 tree crews who will be clearing debris in advance of making repairs."
McGowen also made clear that essential services like hospitals, drinking water and wastewater systems will be prioritized.
In late June, a severe storm knocked out power for many Shelby County residents. Some did not have their power restored until a week later.
Germantown residents, some of whom had just had their power restored by MLGW, were met with another round of outages from Tuesday's storm. The following Germantown intersections remained without power as of late Wednesday morning, with officials advising drivers to use caution:
Germantown Road south to Poplar Pike
Poplar Avenue west to Kirby Parkway
Hacks Cross and Poplar Pike
Kimbrough and Dogwood
Farmington and Brierbrook (light flashing)
Forest Hill and Winchester
On top of the outages, an excessive heat warning has been issued for Shelby County. Heat index values are expected to reach between 110 and 115 degrees. For those without power looking to stay cool in East Memphis and Germantown, there are some public spaces open with air conditioning, including the Germantown Community Library and Memphis Public Libraries. Certain senior centers are also open Wednesday until 4 p.m. as shelters from the heat.
On July 12, McGowen asked the Memphis City Council to authorize $227 million of money the city-owned utility already had to be used for tree trimming. In that request, McGowen said about 60% of the outages that have happened this year were caused by trees.
Power outage map for Memphis
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Power outage in Memphis: 120K without power serviced by MLGW
