Residents Blowing A Fuse With Power Outage
It's been a rough couple of days for a lot of folks in the Mid-South.
An extended period of freezing rain placed an overwhelming burden on the area's trees and power lines, causing many of them to fall. As a result, close to one in four Memphis utility customers are without power on this frigid night, many for the second consecutive evening.
According to this tweet from Memphis Light, Gas & Water, additional help is coming to town to expedite tree trimming and line repair. Huge thanks to everyone working to repair the lines, trim the trees, and removing debris. Hazardous jobs in frigid conditions.
It's been 28 years since the last major ice storm. Many Memphians are frustrated, feeling like nothing has been learned from the 1994 storm. Approximately 300,000 customers lost power that year- some for over two weeks- because of ice accumulation that toppled trees and power lines. While the magnitude of Ice Storm 2022 is significantly less than its predecessor, the CAUSE of the massive outages is the same. After nearly three decades, Memphis' power grid is still very exposed and very vulnerable to strong winds, ice, and untrimmed trees.
Thankfully, warmer weather is coming for the weekend. It doesn't look like we'll warm up to above freezing for very long on Saturday, but ANY ice melt is a good thing. Sunday does look to be the start of a string of warmer (and dry) days.
Coming up Monday on "Wake Up Memphis" on 107.9 FM, 990 AM & mighty990.com from 6-9am we'll update you on MLGW's progress to go with top stories & an interview with Memphis City Councilman Frank Colvett, Jr.
Get Ready to WIN! Starting Monday, listen for the cue to call 901-260-5926 to win a dozen roses from Pugh's Flowers plus a Special Edition CD of romantic songs performed by Mannheim Steamroller!