MLGW restores most power after storm outages
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Storms that rolled through the Mid-South this morning left tens of thousands of MLGW customers in the dark, but the utility was abloe to restore power quickly for most.
According to MLGW, at one point 40,000 customers were in the dark. By the afternoon, that number had dropped to just under 1,400.
Severe weather damaged three substations, which caused in widespread outages. The utility company said their teams successfully rerouted power and were able to restore it for 99 percent of customers in under two hours.
MLGW says lightning caused Tuesday’s power outages
However, the outages set back the time some businesses opened, such as Jersey Mike’s in Bartlett and Walgreens off Stage Road and Kirby Whitten.
“They said the power was out and they’re having to reboot all their computer systems and the registers.” Bartlett resident, David Manley said.
On Tuesday, MLGW re-iterated to WREG that fallen trees and branches, not severe weather, are the leading cause of power outages.
As a way to combat them, they set a 1,491 mile tree trimming goal back in September. They claim that as of March 28, they have completed 802 miles of that benchmark.
With the spring storm season right around the corner, residents say that they hope trimming more trees will cut down on the number of outages.
“Yeah, they need to do that, get them away from the powerlines because that’s what causes a lot of them,” Manley said. “When tree limbs go down, gets the powerlines, the power goes down.”
More information can be found about those tree trimming efforts here.
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