WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Power Outages Widespread In Southwest Mississippi

Power Outages Widespread In Southwest Mississippi

By David Kenney
david@wlbt.net

More than 90,000 customers are without power in Mississippi.

Roughly 32,000 of those are Entergy customers.

Much of the damage is concentrated in the southwest corner of the state, where heavy winds knocked down powerlines.

Entergy C.E.O. Haley Fisackerly calls it one of the greatest hits to the Entergy power system ever, second only to hurricane Katrina.

As Gustav came ashore, high winds wreaked havoc on small towns in Southwest Mississippi.

Fisackerly says, "We havelarge transmission structures, the report so far is that no structures are down, we've got line segments that are down and there are trees on some of these line segments so were getting crews in there to remove those trees and to put line segments back up to feed power into that area."

Entergy has dispatched nearly 700 utility workers to the areas affected.

Tonight Natchez Gloster, Centerville and Meadville remain in the dark.

It could stay that way for several days.

Fisackerly says, "We don't have a good enough assessment to determine what the total restoration will be it will take several days. I expect some of these outages to carry us through the weekend."

Entergy is asking their customers remain patient while they work to restore everyones power.

Emergency services, shelters and hospitals will get top priority.