MEMPHIS, Tenn — More than 138,000 MLGW customers were without power Tuesday evening after yet another round of severe thunderstorms with high winds.
The outage number marks the third such mass outage event caused by storms since June 25, and the largest number of outages in Memphis from storms since the February 2022 ice storm, when more than 200,000 lost power.
City officials in Germantown and Collierville both reported widespread outages, with trees blocking major streets and power lines down.
Shortly after the storms came through the Memphis metro area Tuesday evening, MLGW said they are working to determine damage around the city:
"A sudden, severe thunderstorm bringing high wind gusts has caused extensive damage across the MLGW service area knocking out power to more than 100, 000 customers. #MLGW is working to assess the damage, repair infrastructure and restore customers as quickly and safely as we can."
Around 9:30 p.m., MLGW president Doug McGowen outlined an overnight restoration plan:
"Overnight we will focus on three areas of restoration:
First, our system operators and troublemen will work to reroute power to as many customers who can take power. This temporary measure gets customers back on, and allows us to work on damaged areas of the system. Our priority will be hospitals, wastewater and water systems.
Second, our repair crews will work to clear roadways of electrical hazards so that emergency crews and repair crews can move safely around the service area. This will also permit a safe morning commute, though drivers should expect many traffic signals to be out.
Third, we will be working on damage assessment and identifying causes of outages so that our crews can begin to repair them in earnest."
35 contract repair crews will work with MLGW crews to restore power "first thing in the morning," according to McGowen. 37 tree crews will join them to clear debris before the crews make repairs, the statement added.
McGowen said the MLGW emergency operations center will be "operating continually" until all customers get their power back.
McGowen said he will share more information in the morning.
