‘It’s hot out here’: Many struggle without power after Friday storms

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The communications manager at Entergy says that right now, crews are working 16-hour shifts to get power restored for those who are still without it after Friday’s storms.

But some say having no power in this sweltering heat is becoming too much to bear.

“It’s hot out here. I have been sweating out here and I’m a few weeks from having pacemaker surgery.”

That’s what Sheila Lagdon, a Jackson resident, had to say as she along with many others in Hinds, Warren and Madison County are bearing the brunt of the current power outages.

Leyla Goodsell with Entergy said, “We know it’s frustrating. We know it’s difficult. We’re right there with you. A lot of our employees are also Entergy customers, so we understand the frustrations and concerns that you have.”

The delay comes as crews continue assessing damage from this week’s line of storms.

“I know everyone are anxious to know when the restoration times are and we are working to develop those,” continued Goodsell. “We just ask people’s patience because a storm of this magnitude takes time to get that information.”

But there is some good news.

“We are restoring power even while we are assessing that damage, but in order to make sure we have the right materials in the right place with the right people, sometimes that takes a little bit of time because of the magnitude of the magnitude of power outages,” Goodsell said.

Others are now feeling the effects of having no power.

Sheila Lagdon spent hours waiting in the Kroger drive-thru pharmacy line off I-55 hoping to get her prescription filled but was turned away after the power there shut off.

According to Lagdon, power has been going on and off at the Kroger and employees failed to tell her that it had shut off again even though she was at the window.

She says this wasted time she could have been using to find another pharmacy.

“This is not like aspirin or some simple meds,” Lagdon said. “This is an insulin pen and I took my blood sugar before I left home and it was 412 and I’m sure it’s even higher now.”

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.

Copyright 2023 WLBT. All rights reserved.