After severe weather swept through Mississippi on Sunday night and into early Monday morning, thousands are waking up without power.
As of 4:30 a.m. on Monday, the lights were out for over 40,600 residents and businesses, according to poweroutage.us. Counties with the most outages were Hinds (6,704), Grenada (2,679), and DeSoto (2,544).
Warren, Adams, Tippah, Lincoln, and Washington each had over 1,300 outages being reported.
The National Weather Service confirmed at 4:06 a.m. that the severe weather threat had expired across south Mississippi after earlier ending in central and north Mississippi.
What to do if the power goes out
If your power goes out and you don’t have a generator, steps that should be taken, per the NWS and others, include:
- Stay calm and stay inside. Avoid hazardous travel conditions.
- Use battery-powered lighting or phone flashlights, and avoid burning candles if possible, since open flames increase fire risk.
- Turn off or unplug electrical appliances and electronics to protect them from possible surges when power returns. Leave one light on so you will know when power is restored.
- Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to keep food cold. An unopened fridge can keep foods safe for a few hours, and an unopened freezer for longer.
- Avoid using gas stoves, ovens, charcoal grills, or camp stoves indoors due to carbon monoxide threats. Rather, dress in loose-fitting, warm cloths and use blankets when needed. Close off unused rooms to preserve heat. Consider seeking a warming shelter if conditions allow. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency provides a list of open warming shelters here.
- Report the outage to your electric company, and monitor local alerts with battery-powered radios and phones (if charged).
Cold weather moves in
Now that the storms have moved through, a cold front is bringing significantly cooler temperatures and breezy conditions to the entire state.
High temperatures Monday in north and central Mississippi are expected to be in the 40s, while south Mississippi could see highs in the lower to mid-50s. NWS says a wintry mix, including the possibility of snow, cannot be ruled out in some northern and central areas during the morning time. Temperatures are expected to drop even further Monday night when a hard freeze could develop across parts of the state.