WREG.com

Mother says power off for days after tree falls on power lines

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A woman and her children have been without power for days after a tree came crashing down and barely missing her house.

This happened in the 1600 block of Carpenter Street in North Memphis.

The family has been without power for four days.

A huge tree is scattered across Christan Frazier’s yard and leaning on power lines.

“It could’ve killed us,” said Frazier. “It fell about 10 a.m. Friday morning, I was in the living room cleaning up and the children were in the back,” said Frazier.

The branches so high, you can barely see the home or even park in the driveway.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Frazier. “It wasn’t rainy, storming or anything. It was a pretty day, and it just fell.”

She called MLGW and says a crew came Friday just to look at the damage.

“They told me to contact my landlord and leasing agent and have an electrician come out.”

So she did.

“I’ve been contacting them over the weekend and haven’t got a response, but I’m continuously calling and calling. I mean, this is an emergency situation. Why are my lights off four days?”

Frazier says she left messages but never heard back. She eventually left the house because the heat was unbearable.

“I’m upset that they wont take into consideration that I have two small children and that it’s 90 degrees outside,” said Frazier. “What about their food?Where are they going to stay and sleep?”

So we called.

The maintenance manager at Lubin Property Management says Frazier didn’t put in a work order, but they would an electrician as soon as possible.

A few minutes later, two electricians showed up and fixed the pole and the pieces that were broken.

“When I get it fixed, you still aren’t going to have power until MLGW does that,” said the electrician.

There was some action, but the power lines are still down and Frazier is still without utilities. She hopes her landlord cuts the rest of the tree down so this doesn’t happen again.

“Why not do something about it?” said Frazier.

Frazier told us an MLGW customer service rep told her they know if they’ll be able to restore her power before or after the tree is moved from the power lines.

MLGW says if the tree is on the power lines they are responsible for moving the tree. In this case, they are.

However, tomorrow makes five days with no power and it’s still unclear exactly when Frazier and her two sons will get their power back on.