Mississippi Power Storm crews restore power in Alabama

Mississippi Power is aiding its sister company after a winter storm knocked out power to thousands in west Alabama.

Approximately 27 linemen and support personnel from Hattiesburg, Laurel, and Meridian made the 134-mile journey from Meridian to Fayette, AL to help restore electricity to 2,800 customers. They left Meridian at 7 a.m. Thursday and arrived in Fayette that afternoon.

According to Alabama Power’s Storm Outage map, more than 17,000 customers were without power early Thursday thanks to a midweek winter storm that brought snow, sleet, and freezing rain to much of the Southeast. During the storm’s peak, 39,000 were in the dark in Alabama.

“Crews were advised to bring snow chains due to the large amount of snow on the ground,” said Engineering Services Manager David Simmons. “We have snow chains for situations just like this. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, we’re prepared.”

The bad weather clipped northern portions of Mississippi Power’s service territory Wednesday forcing customer offices in Newton and Forest to close early. Both offices reopened Thursday.

The crew wrapped up operations early Friday morning and returned to Mississippi Friday afternoon.