JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Severe storms passed through Mississippi Tuesday night and continued through Wednesday. The storms caused extensive damage to Entergy’s facilities across the service area.

At peak, Entergy Mississippi officials said 33,600 customers lost power from the damaging storms. As of Thursday afternoon, about 22,000 customers were without power.

A workforce of 1,400 company and contract workers, including damage assessors, vegetation crews, line workers, and support personnel, are diligently working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Additional workers have been requested.

Damage assessment has so far identified damages to 133 poles, 515 spans of downed wire (approximately 26 miles), 27 transformers and 61 crossarms. The 2023 drought has resulted in more than 12.5 million dead trees in the state, according to the Mississippi Forestry Commission. Entergy Mississippi said their crews are seeing the impact of this as they encounter many downed trees as they work.

Many customers will be restored Thursday evening. However, due to the severity of damages and the widespread impact, some customers in the areas of Clinton, Vicksburg, Jackson, Madison and Grenada may carry over into Friday evening. There could be some isolated cases that carry over into Saturday.

If you are without power, check for damage to the electrical equipment attached to your home or business. If your power is out and your electric equipment appears undamaged, call 1-800-9OUTAGE, 1-800-968-8243. 

Entergy restoration workers cannot restore power to a location with a damaged meter base, conduit or weather head (the metal pipe extending upward from the structure with electrical cables inside). These items must be repaired by a qualified electrician before our workers can restore.

Watch the full news conference below: