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On Sunday night, Tupelo was positioned in the path of a powerful storm. Though it was a storm that developed quickly, it was soon inevitable that we would take a hit from the tornado, which had already damaged Calhoun County and other communities in its path.
At 9:30 p.m. the city declared a local emergency. The storm hit shortly after, and our battle-tested crews went to work. Unfortunately, Tupelo is no stranger to tornadoes. But fortunately, our past experiences have prepared our city well for these disasters.
As in prior natural disasters, Fire Chief Thomas Walker was designated the cityâs emergency response officer, and Chief Operations Officer Don Lewis was designated as the cityâs emergency relief officer. No time was wasted in responding to the needs of the city after the storm came through. The first call came in at 10:07 p.m.. Our response teams were ready, and I am extremely proud of their work.
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TUPELO â¢Â Even though several inches of snow on Wednesday night sprinkled roads and the tops of homes across the state, most of Tupelo, Lee County and Northeast Mississippi continued to have access to electricity.
âWe dodged a bullet last night,â said Johnny Timmons, the director of Tupelo Water and Light. âWe got snow instead of freezing rain. We were lucky, lucky, lucky.â
Timmons said that only one home in Tupelo briefly lost electricity last night, but it seemed to be an isolated incident and not part of a larger outage.
Tombigbee Electric Power Association, which provides power to portions of Lee, Itawamba, Union and Prentiss counties, currently has around 82 customers without power.
âWeâre just getting lucky,â said Scott Hendrix, the manager of Tombigbee Electric Power Association.
Hendrix said none of Tombigbeeâs members have experienced power outages, but he and other company leaders are still working out logistics on how to respond safely if many members report outages.
Hendrix said that Tombigbee will suspend disconnections and late fees through Tuesday, Feb. 16 and that it could be extended.
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Brandon Presley and the Public Service Commission encourage people with power outages to call or text 601-383-3287 if there is a life-threatening condition in the home where power is immediately needed. Presley said people should still call 911 in the case of emergencies.Â