For the first time since Sunday morning, power outages in Mississippi have dropped below the six-digit mark.
As of Thursday at 7:30 a.m., just over 99,000 residents and businesses were without electricity following an outage high of 180,000-plus due to Winter Storm Fern’s tear on the state.
Gov. Tate Reeves commended utility companies and linemen for their continued work to get the lights back on but wrote on social media that “we have a long way to go.”
“HUGE thanks to the linemen from our state – and across the country – that are already out this morning helping get the lights back on!” Reeves wrote on social media.
For the first time since Sunday morning, total power outages just dropped below 100,000 in Mississippi. We have a long way to go but real progress by tough men working out in the cold is worth mentioning…
HUGE thanks to the linemen from our state – and across the country – that…
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) January 29, 2026
According to PowerOutage.com, the majority of outages were still being reported are in the northernmost part of the state with Lafayette (16,079 customers), Tippah (11,394), Panola (10,849), Alcorn (8,999), and Tishomingo (8,829) counties having the most affected.
Pockets of the state’s Delta region are also suffering from continued outages. Delta Electric Power Association, which serves 13 counties, held 28,902 of the outages. Harold Pittman, the general manager of Delta EPA, said Thursday morning that it will be weeks before the company is back at full capacity.
“We actually have a few more crews coming in today with heavy-traffic equipment and those things. We already have a lot of that out there now,” Pittman said Thursday morning. “So many of these rural areas, the lines are out in the woods basically and not on the side of the road. So, it takes specialized equipment to do that.”
Winter Storm Fern moved out Sunday but left behind significant ice that state crews are still working to clear so utility crews can get through. As of Wednesday afternoon, damage had been reported in 51 counties and 10 people had died from the storm’s freezing cold. Warming shelters have been opened by local and state officials in many counties within the impact zones.