More than 100,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water customers were still without power early on Aug. 23, hours after a powerful storm with damaging straight-line winds blew through the Mid-South. Some could be without power for several days.
As of 8 a.m., 101,525 customers were still without electricity, according to the MLGW outage map.
In a social media post late on Aug. 22, the utility said a quarter of all its customers were impacted.
A Bow Echo storm system impacted Memphis and Shelby County in the evening hours. These storms can produce severe straight-line winds between 80-100mph, heavy rains and occasional tornados. While we have no confirmation of tornadic activity, we have confirmation of straight-line… pic.twitter.com/27XrAlt8o5
— MLGW (@MLGW) August 23, 2026
"A Bow Echo
storm system impacted Memphis and Shelby County in the evening hours. These storms can produce severe straight-line winds between 80-100mph, heavy rains and occasional tornados. While we have no confirmation of tornadic activity, we have confirmation of straight-line wind speeds more than 70mph. These winds have wreaked havoc on our electric system impacting more than 25% of MLGW customers," MLGW said in the post.
The utility said after the storm that damage assessments were still being conducted but "our customers should expect this to be a multi-day recovery, with the majority of customers expected to be restored by Thursday evening based on early assessments."
MLGW said the priority was restoring power to hospitals, water treatment facilities and sewer facilities. It was also hoping to provide an update to school systems about restoring power at schools sometime on Aug. 23.
People should be prepared to be without power for several days, MLGW said.
Crews worked overnight to assess damage and start restoring power when possible.
"They will be joined (by) additional MLGW staff and by more than 30 contractor crews who are headed our way, with more to follow behind them: in short, we have help on the way," MLGW said.
According to the National Weather Service Memphis office, there is not a risk of additional severe thunderstorms or damaging winds in the days ahead. However, there is an extreme heat risk later in the week.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: MLGW says power restoration could take days after severe weekend storm
