Wednesday’s Update: About 38,000 MLGW customers still have no electricity. The utility company says power will not be fully restored until Friday.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – – Thousands of Shelby County residents went without power for a 6th straight day Tuesday.
Some customers were really frustrated after getting text alerts from MLGW that their power was back on when it wasn’t.
MLGW official Jim West said the utility is trying to correct that error. He said those texts should read the power is back on in your area not necessarily in your home.
That’s because crews don’t always know about every problem on a particular line. So, even when a circuit is restored there could be issues that still leave certain homes in the dark.
“Once the circuit is energized really only then are we able to look downstream and see that there might be smaller outages where a tree limb has fallen across the line, disrupted a transformer, opened a fuse,” West said. “That might be affecting a small number of customers along that circuit.”
22 additional out-of-town crews joined MLGW Tuesday, bringing the number of total workers on the ground to roughly 1,200.
That’s little comfort to Daniel Hensley, a veteran who, as of Tuesday evening, still had no power.
“Not fun,” he said. “I’ve got a pacemaker and seizures. It’s been really aggravating the seizures and such.”
His frustration is growing while officials hope to have everyone’s power back on by Friday night.
“This is the process and I will not tell you we are perfect in our execution of it,” MLGW President J.T. Young said. “We certainly know we are not.”
If you’ve gotten text alerts but your power isn’t on, MLGW asks that you text them back and let them know.
