Mississippi’s Severe Weather Preparedness Week begins Feb. 15.
Gulfport, Miss. – In addition to the global COVID-19 pandemic, south Mississippi residents also saw an active tornado season in the spring and a record-breaking string of named storms during the Atlantic hurricane season in 2020.
Mississippi’s annual Severe Weather Preparedness Week is Feb. 15-19, and Mississippi Power encourages its customers to review their family’s storm plan and practice being safe and prepared.
“Safely implementing our restoration plan to restore service as quickly as possible after a storm is our number one priority and we review that plan throughout the year to stand ready for our customers,” Vice President of Customer Service and Operations Fran Forehand said. “Customers have an opportunity during this week to review their family storm plan to make sure they have the supplies and preparedness necessary to weather the storm.”
In Mississippi Power’s Online Storm and Outage Center, customers can sign up to receive Outage Alerts, access the company’s Online Outage Map and receive helpful tips on preparing before, during and after a storm.
Some severe weather preparation tips include:
- Use a NOAA weather radio.
- Install a smart phone app that will alert you to severe weather in the area.
- If you live in a home, stay near the center of the house to put as many walls as possible between you and a tornado.
- If you live in a mobile home and a tornado warning sounds, get out immediately and head for safety in a nearby shelter or the basement of a nearby building.
While adhering to newly implemented COVID-19 protocols, Mississippi Power’s storm team safely restored service to more than 24,000 customers after three severe weather events produced multiple tornadoes in Jones, Forrest and George counties in April 2020.
The storm team:
- Replaced more than 140 broken poles
- Restrung 480 spans of wire (approximately 23 miles)
- Repaired almost 15 transmission structures
Now in its 95th year of operations, Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and affordable energy for more than 188,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. Mississippi Power recently was a recipient of the Community Partner Impact Award from the Center for Energy Workforce Development for its innovative and ongoing efforts to build a diverse workforce. With nearly 160 megawatts of approved solar energy capacity, Mississippi Power is the largest partner in providing renewable energy in the state of Mississippi. Visit our website at mississippipower.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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