Power outages, hail and some downed trees reported in area
Published 10:40 am Friday, February 21, 2014
Power outages, scattered trees, slight flooding and reports of some hail near Highway 84 and East Lincoln Road characterized Thursday night’s thunderstorms reported Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Clifford Galey Friday morning.
“We had some areas without power for stretches of time last night. I’d say anywhere from 200 to 300 people were effected by the storm,” Galey said.
By Friday morning, nearly all power serviced by Magnolia Electric had been restored, said Lucy Shell, power association member services director.
Shell said 2,000 meter outages Thursday night and into early Friday morning. By 9 a.m. Friday, that number was less then 10, indicative of individual outages scattered throughout the county.
“Our workers have been out all night taking care of each situation and then moving on to the next,” Shell said.
The majority of outages occurred south of Bogue Chitto and into Pike County, Shell noted.
Shell cited lightning and fallen trees as responsible for the outages.
Among those without power included those in attendance for Thursday night’s basketball games at the Bogue Chitto Attendance Center gymnasium.
Power went out at the gymnasium at approximately 6:30 p.m. due to a fallen tree on a power line near Highway 51, according to Entergy officials Thursday night. The fallen tree left 192 customers in the Bogue Chitto area without power, said Entergy Customer Services Account Manager Bill Howard.
After a two-hour delay, Bogue Chitto Principal Mickey Myers decided to postpone the games until Friday night.
Another outage near Crooked and Ozark Lanes left 126 Entergy customers without power for portions of the night, said Howard.
Earlier in the week, Galey cautioned area residents about the weather citing a forecast that included high winds, hail and potential tornadoes.
Despite the power outages, Galey said he felt the local area came out OK.
“It could have been far worse. We are fortunate,” he said Friday morning.