LAKELAND, Tenn. — WREG is tracking a potentially dangerous heat wave gripping the Mid-South as the area is under a heat advisory. Our team of weather experts has been warning of the possibility of a triple-digit heat index this week, but there are a few communities that really have it bad.
Parts of Lakeland and Arlington are at risk for rolling blackouts when it’s the hottest.
There’s the possibility for blackouts, but life goes on like at the Refuge Church, where early voting in underway. It has generators on standby, ready to go just in case.
When the Mercury rises, the melodic buzz of an air conditioner is almost like music to your ears.
Right now MLGW is asking customers in Lakeland and Arlington to keep that buzz to a minimum after an equipment failure scorched a substation off Highway 70. MLGW is now warning some 7,000 customers to prepare for the possibility of rolling blackouts.
“So we have a plan for that,” said Shelby County Election Administrator Linda Phillips.
Election time is busy enough, factor in the possibility of a power outage and Shelby County Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips is putting a contingency plan to use.
“I’ve got techs here with generators. Our voting machines run on battery backups, and we have APCs, automatic power control units, for the computers, so we should we fine,” she said.
A few miles down the road in Arlington, Diane Lowery isn’t concerned for herself.
“My husband has, you know, congestive heart failure,” said Lowery.
Her husband has already had difficulty breathing recently.
“If it were a long period of time of hour or two or something like that it would definitely get to someone. Not just to my husband but someone with asthma,” explained Lowery.
On Monday WREG saw crews hard at work repairing the substation. If the blackouts do happen, MLGW said to be prepared in the late afternoon and evening. Lowery hopes they’re avoided not just for her husband’s sake but for everyone’s.
MLGW is asking people in the area to curb their power usage for the next few weeks.
The Election Commission said it’s not costing taxpayers any extra money bringing in the generators because that money was already part of the budget.