MEMPHIS, Tennessee —
Frozen wires and tree limbs caused headaches Thursday in the Memphis area, knocking out power in pockets and springing MLGW crews into action.
"There were random outages across Shelby County," Gale Jones Carson with MLGW said.
Local 24 cameras found MLGW crews in baskets repairing lines Thursday, including in east Memphis and near the University of Memphis.
"Right now we have 42 crews, one out of town, and then we are expecting 10 more crews tomorrow," Carson said.
Carson expects all but a few hundred customers will have power restored by late Thursday night, with the remaining back online sometime late Friday.
"If we don't have anymore precipitation, then hopefully we won't have anymore outages that is impacted from ice on the lines, ice on the trees," Carson said.
"I don't think it's going to melt anytime soon but we dodged a bullet," MLGW customer Jay Bedwell said.
Bedwell said he lost power in east Memphis for a little more than three hours Thursday morning, but felt grateful Thursday's ice-related outages came nowhere close to the 1994 storm.
"That was my concern - that the cold was going to overtake this thing and hold it, but fortunately the streets seem pretty dry and pretty clear," Bedwell said.
Those with MLGW Thursday said they have the necessary staffing and equipment to restore customers affected by the ice storm, as well as crews on standby for additional chances of winter weather in the coming days.
Those with MLGW also reminded customers Thursday to always report a power outage at (901) 544-6500.
