HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss — January’s onslaught of freezing rain has left thousands in Holly Springs without power. While some have had their lights come back on, others like Christian Fish, are still left in the dark.
“It’s been a headache to try and get the power back on,” says Fish, “It’s been at least four days now.”
As of February 4th, Fish is one of 2,000 Holly Springs Utility Department customers without power.
“It’s not this normal for us to be this long out of power,” says Fish.
Since February 3rd, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has been working with the following agencies to help address the outage issues:
- Columbus Light & Water
- City of West Point Electric Department
- New Albany Light, Gas & Water
- Holly Springs Utility Department
- North Central EPA
- Northeast Mississippi EPA
- Tippah EPA
- Tombigee EPA
“We are working in the complete service area for the City of Holly Springs Utility District,” says Holly Springs Mayor Sharon D. Gipson.
Power has slowly been returning to households across the district, however MEMA says HSUD customers may still experience power outages while repairs are being made.
“They might to power down to then re-energize of this electrical grid,” says Stephen McCraney, Director of MEMA, “It usually takes 30 to 45 minutes for them to de-energize, safely hook that back up, and then go ahead and re-energize that system again.”
The news conference on February 5th still has a lot of residents confused on the future of their power. When asked how long the repairs would take, no timeline was provided by MEMA nor the city of Holly Springs. McCraney did shoot down a rumor saying repairs would take between four to six weeks.
“We’re going to get this done, it’s not going to be a month, it’s not going to be four weeks,” says McCraney.
Northcentral Electric Cooperative, one of the power companies helping with repairs, said in a press release repairs were expected to begin Monday February 6th. The company said it will begin work in the areas around the HSUD’s Coldwater-Mount Pleasant Substation.
At Sunday’s conference, MEMA did announce it had opened a call center to help people affected by the recent ice storm and outages. The number for the call center is 1-833-591-6362. Residents are also asked to report outages to Crisis Tracker so crews can continue to serve those affected.
However, Thousands still remain in the dark, however those with power are determined to use it for good. Coffee in Holly opened its doors on Sunday when it would usually be closed so that residents could get warm and charge their devices. Just down the road, members of the Opulent Life Church were holding a barbeque for people without power.
“Sharing a meal, a hot meal with people who may not have had a hot meal who may not have had a hot meal for a few days now,” says Telsa DeBerry, Opulent Life Church Pastor, “Wasn’t any restriction, as long as the food lasts we will be handing it out.”
“We’re a small, tight-knit community, so people try to help out other people as best they can,” says Fish.