Nearly 2,000 customers of Southwest Mississippi Electric can expect to be without electricity until about 8 p.m. today.

Deb McGee, human resources and public relations coordinator, said the the outage was reported at 1:51 p.m. today and affects 1,955 customers in Lincoln and Copiah counties. About 265 customers in Lincoln County are affected.

The outage was caused by a tree coming into contact with a transmission line, resulting in a damaged switch, she said.

Power should be restored around 8 p.m., McGee said.