COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — Monday, thousands people are going to bed in the dark, just as MLGW said it was finishing up restoring power for 120,000 customers after last week's severe weather.
MLGW President and CEO Doug McGowen said there were just around 500 customers left to go, but storms caused 35,000 outages at its peak. Collierville was one of the hardest areas hit.
“We have never seen anything this bad before,” said Jim Dilorio, who has been living in Collierville since 2015.
Dilorio and several other people saw the full damage of the overnight storms, including a downed power line on Houston Levee. The damage blocked lanes of traffic, and knocked out power to the surrounding community.
“Half of our subdivision doesn’t have power. We were fortunate and lucky, somehow the storm and have power,” said Dilorio.
However, several MLGW customers still do not have power and are now preparing to spend another night without it.
“The food will be going over to our daughter’s house, we have two kids in the area,” said Karen Ratliff, whose lived in Collierville for 25 years.
Businesses nearby like the Mulan Bistro are trying to salvage what they can after the storm. Owner William Zhang told ABC24 the restaurant could potentially lose tens of thousands of dollars from the storm, and maybe more from 4th of July sales if power does not come back.
“Maybe one day, maybe 12 hours, all the food that we had, because we got nothing right now," said Zhang, "Hopefully they can fix it as soon as possible.”
On Monday, McGowen said most of the outages were taken care of, and most customers should have their lights back by Tuesday.
However, the utility company is not out of the woods yet. Severe weather is expected over the next few days, which McGowen said could push delays even further, partially due to MLGW's aging infrastructure. Some of the poles vary in quality after not having been replaced for a number of years.
“They vary in range, they can be five years old, they can be 40 years old,” said McGowen. "As soon as we are out of storm restoration mode, which we have been in over the past six months, we will begin in earnest making those improvements and you will see some dramatic improvements in reliability.”
In the utility company's improvement plan, MLGW is working to install a smart grid to help cut down on future outages, expected to be finished in 2027.
The replacement of aging infrastructure is also included in the plan along with additional tree trimming. MLGW is expected to talk with the Memphis City Council about it next week. Memphians are hoping the discussion will go well after the utility company missed its tree trimming goal every year since 2020.