A Tennessee Valley Authority transmission line failed Wednesday afternoon, knocking out power to most of the Golden Triangle for hours.
While TVA had routed power to the area through another line before 9 p.m. Wednesday, about five hours after the main line failed, TVA officials had local utility companies slowly bring power back through about 12:30 a.m.
Depending on how much stress is put on the system, Columbus Light and Water General Manager Todd Gale said more outages were possible today.
Even with power being fed to the area again, about 10,740 people — mostly in Oktibbeha and Noxubee counties — were still without power at 7:30 a.m. because of recent storms, said 4-County Electric Power Association spokesman Jon Turner.
In Lowndes County, a little more than 800 people were without power this morning, Turner said.
In Columbus, all 13,000 customers were out Thursday evening, although almost all were back online today, Gale said.
Across the 4-County coverage area, the damage, which includes about 150 downed utility poles and broken power lines, could take another three or four days to repair, despite extra help from other electric cooperatives” crews, Turner said.
TVA was also hard hit, with numerous lines down, according to local utilities. Helicopters were checking lines today.
Meanwhile, residents in other, harder hit counties are still struggling with the wreckage left in the wake of the severe storms that have swept across the South.
Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle reported that 12 people had been moved from Gilmore Memorial Hospital in Amory, which has major storm damage.
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