As many as 85,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water customers are without power after the seventh most damaging storm in the utility company's history, President and CEO Doug McGowen said at an Aug. 23 press conference.
Customers without power should plan to remain without power with several days, McGowen said.
"We expect to have the vast majority of customers on by Thursday evening," he said. "Based on the damage that we know about right now and the work that we know to be in the system, we think that's a reasonable expectation."
The severe bow echo thunderstorm brought damaging winds into the Mid-South on Aug. 22, causing extensive tree damage, downed power lines and road closures, according to the National Weather Service in Memphis.
A bow echo is
an arched or bowed out line of thunderstorms that occurs when a storm's strong winds reach the surface and spread horizontally.
The storm included winds in excess of 80 miles an hour, which "wreaked havoc" on Memphis' utility system, McGowen said.
MLGW had "no idea" the storm was coming, he said, unlike the winter storm that hit Memphis earlier this year, for which McGowen said MLGW was well prepared.
More than 140,000 customers were affected at the peak of the outages, mostly in the southern part of MLGW's service territory in Shelby County, McGowen said.
The storm also impacted water treatment plants, McGowen said. While those plants are now back online, MLGW is asking customers to conserve water and avoid high-use activities - such as watering lawns or washing cars - for the rest of the day.
There were also 34 Memphis-Shelby County Schools and five private schools impacted by the storm, and MLGW is in "constant communication" with them, he said.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young asked residents to check on neighbors and to cut limbs from trees into sections no longer than five feet before placing them at the curb for removal.
Three community centers are open to provide air conditioning, seating and charging stations to residents who are without power, Young said: Gaston Community Center at 1048 S. Third St., Marion Hale Community Center at 4791 Willow Road and Orange Mound Community Center at 2590 Park Ave.
Jack Armstrong covers breaking news and the environment for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at jack.armstrong@commercialappeal.com and followed on X @jca2902.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Over 80,000 without power after severe thunderstorm hits Memphis
