More than 40,000 Memphis Light, Gas, and Water residents are still without power in the aftermath of a “bow echo” weather event on Saturday, August 22nd.
According to the agency’s power outage map, about 10 percent of MLGW customers are experiencing power outages as of Monday morning. MLGW said this is about 10 percent of their customers with close to 90 percent of (384,778) residents having power.
Doug McGowen, president and CEO of MLGW, said they expect to have “most customers restored by Thursday evening.” He said they have restored power to 100,000 customers in 36 hours.
MLGW reported more than 140,000 customers were impacted by the storm. The organization predicted a “multi-day recovery.”
“Once outage numbers are below 30,000 customers can expect to see estimated repair times associated with their outages,” McGowen said.
On Sunday night, McGowen called the storm the “7th worst” in company history in terms of outages and circuits impacted. At the time of his update, 74,000 customers were without power.
“Help has arrived as we forecasted, with a total of 52 external crews on board and working with another 20 arriving [Monday] to help expedite restoration,” McGowen said on Saturday.
McGowen said 800 people are working across their service area to restore power.
He added that due to the large number of downed trees, poles, and wires, he could not provide restoration times for “specific addresses or areas.” He said he should have a better estimate at some time on Monday.
“Every job is different, but a typical repair job can take up to four to six hours,” McGowen said. “Though I recognize the inconvenience, we have clearly and from the beginning communicated to our customers to plan for being without power for multiple days — they should not assume that they are ‘next’ or they risk becoming even more frustrated.”
The CEO said there is “plenty of power available” but they are unable to provide all customers with power because of physical damage to the electric distribution system.
Saturday’s storm also impacted water treatment plants. MLGW asked residents on Sunday to not wash cars or water lawns to aid in water conservation.
The NWS said the storm lasted 90 minutes in total, including 45 minutes in going through Shelby County.
