Power Outage Affects Nearly 40,000 MLGW Customers
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Nearly 40,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) customers were left grappling with darkness for several hours after a severe storm swept through the Mid-South on Tuesday morning. Subsequent investigations by MLGW officials revealed that lightning was the primary cause.
Storm Damage Disrupts Power
According to the official statement, “Lightning damage from this morning’s storm ravaged an MLGW electric substation in Northeast Shelby County, subsequently causing an outage on a high-voltage transmission line that affected two additional substations in the area.”
These outages hit the local community hard, with businesses like Laundromats forced to temporarily shut down. The situtation at Linden Laundromat in the northeast service area bore testament to this. The usually bustling establishment fell eerily silent devoid of the usual whirring of washers or humming of dryers.
Carlos Walker, an employee at Linden Laundromat, shared, “The minute the power hit, everything shuts down…you just have to wait until the power comes back on”. The immediate power shutdown also left many customers stranded with half washed clothes, as they were left waiting for the machines to restart.
Repair Begins to Restore Power
MLGW reported that about 3% of its customers were affected due to the damage to the three substations by lightning. Carlos Walker, sharing the sentiment of many at the time, commented, “Can’t do anything about it, you just gotta bear with it and wait on it.”
However, MLGW promptly carried out repair works on the three substations affected by the lightning strikes while rerouting power in the process. Following their rapid response, most of the affected customers had their power restored within two hours.
This swift action by MLGW was a great relief to the community, as power restoration indicated the resumption of normalcy. Shortly after news about the repair and power restoration was received, the once quiet Linden Laundromat buzzed back to life with washing machines humming once again.
The unpleasant experience indeed served as a reminder about the vulnerabilities of power systems to extreme weather conditions and the need for swift and effective responses in times of such crises.