HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. — Officials with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and residents in Marshall and Benton counties are worried that a threat of severe weather could cause a delay in power restoration efforts.
Todd Demuth with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency maps the progress crews are having so far in restoring power to Marshall and Benton counties since MEMA arrived in Holly Springs Friday.
“Estimated that we had roughly 12,000 power outages when we got here. As of this morning, that has significantly decreased. We are confident in saying we are over 90 percent restoration,” Demuth said.
However, Demuth is concerned that what he describes as “great strides” by 200 electrical workers so far could very well be set back by any severe weather that hits the area Wednesday night.
“Potential tornadoes, but mainly the severe wind threat is the big concern up here because we have done a whole lot of really good,” he said.
It’s also a real concern for customers of the Holly Springs Utility District, some of who have spent almost nine days in the dark.
He said outages are down to what he calls “ones and twos” spread out in rural areas that are hard to get to, and some customers who have had their power restored now stand a chance of losing it again.
But Demuth promises crews will continue working hard to keep their power on.
“The crews will be right back in the field, first thing before the sun comes up tomorrow, and be back restoring power again until it’s all complete,” he said.
The possibility of losing power again is a big concern to James Faulkner from Potts Camp who relies on a CPAP machine to breathe at night.
“So when it goes out, I can’t breathe. That’s what wakes me up ’cause I can’t breathe through my CPAP and I have to throw it off right quick to get to breathing. That’s my big concern when I go to bed at night,” Faulkner said.
Since there is no outage map for Marshall and Benton Counties, it’s important for those without power to contact MEMA’s Call Center at 1-833-591-6362.
