Entergy restores power in Brookhaven following storms

Published 10:26 am Saturday, April 1, 2017

More than 3,000 Entergy customers were without power in Brookhaven following Thursday morning’s severe storm, said Entergy customer service representative Tim Runnels during a special called meeting of the Brookhaven Board of Aldermen Friday afternoon.

He said 3,150 customers lost power in Brookhaven, but nearly half received power again the same day. Power was restored to the remaining customers by Friday night.

Over two-thirds of the city — the courthouse, city hall, three schools and most of downtown — was affected by the damaging winds.

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Runnels said the company used 256 linemen contractors, tree trimmers and scouts to repair the damage. Dispatchers and support workers also helped to restore power.

Entergy replaced 22 light poles, 43 spans of wire and removed 80 storm-damaged trees.

“The hardest hit area was Hwy. 51 South, 84 east back up to Monticello Street. The rest was scattered,” Runnels said.

Entergy Senior Regional Manager Clarence Irby said many residents might not understand how the system works when the power goes out after a storm.

“From the beginning, the first thing we do is start assessing so we can see what we got and get the crew up as fast as we can. We don’t want to sit and work on one case and several poles are down,” Irby said. “We want to understand how severe and how much we got down and the number of resources we need to be calling.”

Brookhaven Mayor Joe Cox said cleanup efforts continue.

“It’s going to be a couple of weeks, but everyone should be patient with us as we get this picked up and back to normal,” Cox said. “I want to thank everyone for all of their hard work.”

Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Clifford Galey said another round of storms could hit Brookhaven Monday, but he expected schools in Brookhaven S to be open Monday.

Galey corrected the number of damaged homes from 31 to 30 due to him misreading the report. He said four homes were destroyed, nine have major damage, 10 have minor damage and seven were affected.

Public works director Keith Lewis said all 32 streets are open.

The early Thursday morning storm brought strong straight-line winds that downed dozens of trees in the city. No one was seriously injured in the storm.