70% of county was without power

As the lights flicker back on following winter storms that left 70% of the county without power last week, Neshoba countians are beginning to feel some return to normalcy. 

Meanwhile, about 15% of rural electric customers in Neshoba County were still without power 10 days after the first storm hit on Feb. 14.

Shelly Collins Belk said she had 10 family members staying in her home on Road 234 in the Dixon community. 

Monday morning she had been six days without power and had only had her water sputter back on a few days prior. By 3 p.m. Monday she was celebrating.

“Hallelujah! We have lights,” Belk said. “One happy camper here. Thanks to God and the linemen.”

Brandie Walton, another Dixon resident, said she also had not had power since the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 16.

“They have been working so hard to get it fixed, and I am grateful,” Walton said.

Emergency Management Director Darrell Wilson said Central Electric Power Association is continuing to make progress on repairs as county crews have cleared roadways countywide.

“Outage map numbers are steadily going down every time I check it,” Wilson said.

As an example, Wilson reported close to 8,700 total outages Friday morning and by Monday morning that number was down to just 4,065 customers without power in the Philadelphia and Sebastopol districts.

By Monday evening, Central Electric’s total customer outages was down to 2,936.

In a Tuesday morning release on their website, Central Electric reported 2,235 members without electricity. 

They said 1,813 customers without power are in Neshoba County. 

Central Electric said they have been working in some 20 areas and communities to restore power around Philadelphia and Sebastopol as the two major winter storms battered the area with ice.

Attempts were unsuccessful to reach a Central Electric customer service representive or a company spokesperson for details on why so much of Neshoba County lost power and when the remainder of customers were expected to have their power restored.

“Central Electric Power Association experienced sustained power outages throughout its seven-county service area,” the company said in a news release.

“The damage caused from not one, but two winter ice storms was significant. We understand the hardship of being without power for an extended length of time, and we are truly grateful for your continued patience.”

Central Electric Power Association said they have more than 160 workers, including crews from electric cooperatives in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, who arrived Saturday working in the field to restore power. 

“We are proud of the tireless efforts of our crews as they continue to work until every member once again has power,” the company said.

Central Electric Power Association serves more than 36,000 accounts in a seven-county area in central Mississippi, including Attala, Kemper, Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Rankin and Scott counties. 

At the height of the storms, Philadelphia Utilities General Manager Kirk Morgan said approximately half of their 4,000 customers, who are mostly in the city limits, lost power last week. 

As of Monday, they had all of their customers’ power back on, he said, adding they expected some more isolated power outages due to loose limbs falling from trees.

Morgan said customers started losing power on Tuesday after Monday night's storm, and they only had a few reported outages on Tuesday but it was the second storm Wednesday that came in on top of the first that made everything worse.

Morgan said most affected parts of town were Woodland Hills and Forest Park Circle due to the numerous large and old pine trees in those areas.

Morgan said they tried to attack those areas on Wednesday but had to pull out until the weather let up and work around those areas because of breaking limbs and trees. 

Morgan said they had to make the decision to isolate the area and work around it while it was dangerous.

“It was too dangerous,” Morgan said. “We had to pull out Wednesday and it was still too dangerous on Thursday.”

Wednesday was when they reached the 50% mark on outages, and Morgan said that they had power fully restored by Saturday evening with assistances from crews from Starkville and New Albany that came to assist on Friday and Saturday.

“Everyone is back on,” Morgan said Monday. “We appreciate the community being patient with us and communicating with us. That engagement really helps us out a lot.”

Morgan said they had “all hands on deck” during the worst of the outages, and they encountered some problems with customers losing water pressure as well but that was never at the scale of customers without power.

Belk said her family found ways to adapt during their six days without electricity. 

Between a butane fish cooker and a fireplace they were able to generate some heat as temperatures reached near single digits. 

Belk said they shut doors and put blankets over entryways to areas they did not want to heat. They also used towels to block any air from escaping underneath doors. Closing the drapes at night also helped, she said.

With 10 people in the house, finding a place for everyone to sleep ensured that everyone slept close together. Belk said they put mattresses on the floor and filled all couches.

The family was able to cook on a grill for the time the power was out. She said they were well-stocked on water and canned food but lost everything in the freezers and refrigerator. 

She said they now know to have a chainsaw and generator ready for next winter.

“It’s a good thing we know how to live and survive through something like this,” Belk said.

Though she had not seen any trucks from the power company on her road until Monday, Feb. 22, Belk said she was thankful for the work they were doing. 

She said she did not know what the impact of the lost time from work would be. Despite the uncertainty, Belk said she kept a positive attitude.

“All jokes aside, I do realize it has been even worse for some who had no source of heat or water and my prayers have been with them the entire time,” Belk said. “It could be much worse.”

County Administrator Jeff Mayo called the power outages “a Katrina level event for the county.”

The Neshoba County Board of Supervisors on Thursday, Feb. 18, declared a local state of emergency and were petitioning the Mississippi Governor’s office to declare Neshoba County a disaster area.

The President of the Board declared the emergency which was attested by the Chancery Clerk. It will be ratified by the Board at their next meeting on March 1.

A special meeting was not necessary for the President of the Board to declare the emergency.  

“The local declaration allows us some leeway in responding to the emergency including emergency purchases and being able to provide assistance that we would normally not be able to provide (i.e. assisting Central Electric off the Right-of-Way),” Mayo said.

The Mississippi Lieutenant Governor had previously declared a state of emergency on Sunday for the areas that were expected to be affected, Mayo said. 

The request to the governor provides notification that Neshoba County is requesting state and federal assistance in response to the disaster.

Wilson said they have cleared the roadways throughout the county.

“We do not have any reports of any roads that are still blocked by trees or power lines,” Wilson said. “We would like to ask that drivers take extra caution on the roads for the power crews that are working on the power lines.”

Mayo said county workers have pushed debris to the side of the road to be picked up at a later date and keep the roads cleared for repair trucks and emergency vehicles. 

The county had 12 crews working to clear the roadways throughout the county. Mayo said sanitation department staff had been pulled to fill out the crews as well.