Damage assessments continue in Tallahatchie County in the wake of Winter Storm Fern, which brought to the area the first major ice storm since the "Great Ice Storm of 1994."
As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, large areas of the county, especially eastern Tallahatchie, including the entire city of Charleston, still were without power, and Mayor Sedrick Smith Sr. said he had been given no set timeline for restoration.
A Tuesday morning update from Entergy estimated that electrical service could remain out in some areas of the state through the coming weekend.
"Damage in our service area is significant, affecting both our transmission and distribution systems," noted Entergy President and CEO Haley Fisackerly. "We have already restored service to four transmission lines and 17 substations. The ice and falling limbs are also affecting our distribution system. As of noon yesterday, we have identified 234 broken poles and 971 spans – or 50 miles – of wire down, as well as 35 damaged transformers and 107 broken cross arms. We expect to find more damage as our assessment continues."
In a statement, Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association CEO Brad Robison said TVEPA employees are working 16-hour days to repair damage caused by the ice storm.
"Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), our wholesale energy supplier, sustained significant damage to their transmission system. This damage resulted in power loss to three of our substations," noted Robison. "As substations were energized, the north Sardis substation experienced equipment failure due to the ice accumulation, once resolved power was restored. So far, others have performed well.
"Once transmission and substations are online, our restoration process continues by repairing the 3 Phase lines. The next step of the process is to repair and restore the lines to residential and businesses. That is when people see the outage number decline," Robison continued.
"For many of our members, looking outside the window looks like snow but for others, there is heavy ice accumulation which has caused devastating damage to our electric system," added Robison. "Due to the vast differences in damage, for some members the restoration process will be more quickly than others. But rest assured our employees and outside help are focusing on restoring electric services for all, as safely and quickly as possible under these challenging working conditions."
Without power, nearly all government offices and businesses in Charleston were closed Monday and Tuesday. One noted exception was Discount Lumber & Hardware, which operated on an altered schedule.
Highways, roads, streets and driveways across the county were impacted by the storm. In addition to a thick layer of ice on those surfaces themselves, the buildup of ice on trees and utility lines caused many to come crashing down.
State, county and municipal highway, road and street crews have been augmented in cleanup efforts by many members of area volunteer fire departments and even private citizens who have taken chainsaws in hand to cut a path for traffic on rural roadways blocked by fallen trees and limbs.
While travel conditions have improved in some areas of the county, they remain treacherous in many others — especially in the hill country, which was arguably more severely impacted by fallen trees and utility lines due to geography.
Many rural roads have been, and as of Tuesday still are, obstacle courses where motorists are forced to zig and zag, weaving their way around fallen trees and utility lines — including new ones dropping daily.
Tallahatchie County Sheriff Jimmy Fly on Monday advised against travel.
"Unless it's an absolute emergency, please don't get out and drive," he said. "The sun is shining and it's pretty and may look safe, but the roads are still icy and slick. I would just ask anyone, unless it's an absolute emergency, please stay at home."
After being shut down Monday, the East Tallahatchie School District announced Monday afternoon that all schools and district offices would be closed for the remainder of the week.
West Tallahatchie School District, which was closed Monday and Tuesday, has announced another day off on Wednesday but has not committed beyond that.
The storm moved in late Friday and early Saturday and brought several waves of freezing rain and sleet that continued into Sunday, sometimes mixed with snow in some areas. The storm was followed by subfreezing temperatures.
Several homes and automobiles were damaged by fallen trees. The weight of ice buildup on metal structures at the Teasdale and Vance firehouses caused partial roof collapse, inflicting damage to a pumper truck at Vance and a tanker truck at Teasdale. Several canopies around Charleston folded beneath the weight of ice, including one that covered the gas pump area at Mr. Jiffy convenience store.
The Tallahatchie County Safe Room in Charleston opened at 3 p.m. Friday and has remained operational since, providing warm accommodations to as many as four-dozen people each night. Several warming centers also opened on the west side of the county.
This is a developing story.
