Friday, January 30, 2026

Winter Storm Kills 16; 74,000 Power Outages Remain

 Brother Day issued the following statement. 

Tragically, two more deaths have been reported – one in Alcorn County and one in Union County. This brings the total to 16 statewide. Mississippi is praying for the families.
Thousands of linemen from across the country continue to make progress restoring power in Mississippi. Approximately 74,000 outages remain, down from a high of about 180,000. Two linemen were injured in Alcorn County while working to restore power. This is a terrible reminder of the dangerous conditions linemen encounter while working to restore power. Mississippi is praying for their speedy recovery. Our state is grateful for the important work that they are doing in these dangerous conditions.
Counties continue damage assessments. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) has received reports from 51 counties which indicate 251 homes, 22 businesses, and nine farms have been damaged, destroyed or affected statewide. Additionally, 20 public roads have sustained major damage. 62 have sustained minor damage. Those numbers are expected to fluctuate as damage assessments continue.
Dangerously cold temperatures are expected to impact Mississippi beginning this evening and last through the weekend. Lows are expected to be below freezing throughout our state and wind chills could be near or below zero degrees.
The state of Mississippi is prepared to respond to this weekend’s dangerously cold temperatures. Today, I announced that I have extended the Mississippi National Guard’s (MSNG) activation by another seven days. A total of 650 Soldiers are currently deployed and they will continue to offer logistical support. Additionally, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety’s (MDPS) Special Operations Group has also been extended through at least February 4, 2026. MDPS regional units will remain on call to assist motorists and can help transport those without power to a warming center upon request. 79 warming centers are open in 44 counties.
The state of Mississippi understands that many communities may have issues with their water system due to the severe cold. MEMA has stockpiles of water available and is able to quickly deliver it to impacted communities throughout Mississippi. Also, the Mississippi State Department of Health’s (MSDH) water systems expert is fully plugged in and engaged with the state’s Emergency Operations Center. The expert will be monitoring water systems throughout the weekend. If your community is experiencing issues with its water system, please speak to your local emergency manager to request assistance.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) has opened I-55 and I-22, and traffic is moving in both directions. Per MDOT, all state-maintained roads are open. Although they are open, below freezing temperatures could make them dangerous to drive on. While MDOT will continue performing winter weather treatments to the state system throughout the weekend, please stay off the road unless it is absolutely necessary. If you have to drive, please continue to use caution. Please monitor MDOT and MDPS media alerts for the latest updates on road conditions.
The state of Mississippi continues to deploy requested personnel and resources to impacted counties. A total of 41 counties have submitted 412 requests. Yesterday alone, 96,000 bottles of water, 1,152 meals, 14,000 tarps, 976 blankets, and 288 cots were delivered to impacted counties. MSNG Chinook helicopters continue to deliver supplies. More than 119,000 pounds of supplies have been delivered by Chinook helicopters. Counties are dispersing these supplies to the public at local distribution sites.
MSDH is standing up a second Medical Needs Shelter with equipment and supplies. It will be located in Alcorn County. 55 medical facility issues have been resolved.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is assisting in generator installation at critical infrastructure sites. A total of 49 generators have been installed in critical locations in impacted counties.
Yesterday, I signed a proclamation extending the deadline for Mississippians in impacted counties to submit ad valorem taxes to county tax collectors and delaying fines for not submitting them. Today, I announced that 2 counties have now submitted damage reports that they previously had not yet reported. Therefore, I have included those two counties in the original proclamation. Those two counties are Lee County and Issaquena County. The new deadline to pay ad valorem taxes in the impacted counties is March 3, 2026.
The state of Mississippi continues to make a lot of progress responding to the storm, however, there is still more work to be done.
The state of Mississippi will not stop until that work is complete.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually 70,008 outages as of 7:07 PM (poweroutage.us). For you lame local reporters, that is not 70,008 people without power, that is customers (accounts). One customer per electric meter.

Anonymous said...

Exactly. At 3 people per account that equates to about 210,000 people without power. But I bet Bennie has power.

Anonymous said...

Lack or preparedness, lack of leadership, lack of compassion. This is the best that the MSGOP can provide to the citizens of Mississippi. We can do a lot better. Meanwhile, the toupee wearing Cheeto wants to bait Iran into sinking a carrier strike group with their hypersonic missiles. Because somehow that is going to Make America (Israel) Great Again.

Anonymous said...

I know who Brother Goober is. He blessed us at 7:13. But, who the hell is Brother Day?

Anonymous said...

AND a whole lot of them are entire families hunkered down, so that average could be 4-5 people a "meter". Better reporting should be expected. I know a family of 5 in a trailer right now trying to survive.

Everyone knows this could be considered a 100-year storm - not every 30 like Tater Tot said....but what they have said that's accurate is: We won't know the true toll until it's all gone and people can get around. Terrifying to consider.

Anonymous said...

The electric utilities have done enough power restoration after outages that you know they are working as fast as safely possible. The problem with ice on the Interstates probably could have been handled better, but we don’t deal with these type situations often enough to be experts in handling them.

Anonymous said...

A troll is up early today. Needs to get a life.

Anonymous said...

Darn, the outage number increased overnight. 74,579.

Anonymous said...

Must be real damn cold if you got people jerking off the government to keep their hands warm. North MS gets hit once or twice a year with a big one about every 10 years. No excuse for billion dollar Entergy to leave trees on the powerlines. Every politician said they were experts to get in the posistion they are in. Aside from photo ops I can assure you they do not care about people.

Anonymous said...

All this global war- I mean “climate change” has you feverish and antisemitic.

Anonymous said...

Hell, I can't get Entergy to fix two street lights that have been out for several years now. Called the City about it, and they said, "We'll notify Entergy". What TF kind of circle jerk is that?

Kingfish said...

Whenever I use the website to report street light outages, Entergy is usually there within 5 days, often within 3 days.

Anonymous said...

The utilities do a good job these days keeping limbs cut back from the power lines, but you can’t do anything about trees that fall on the lines or ice that accumulates and the weight brings down the line. The storm we just had is not your occasional storm, and most posters are just Whitney little bitches that have no clue what it takes to restore utility facilities after a storm.

Anonymous said...

Tater was a day late and a dollar short getting into the game.

Anonymous said...

@8:35 AM - Like KF just penned, you have to report lights out directly to Entergy. You can accomplish this via their app or website. I also get quick responses to my "street light" out reports. You really expect repairs by calling the city? Seriously?

Anonymous said...

They were probably waiting for the vests to arrive and Amazon deliveries were ...delayed by the storm!

Krusatyr said...

KF @8:36am
Before Thankshiving, I reported that it appeared lightening had struck a street light next to my driveway, the whole arm was dangling and the lense was broken snd fallen. Energy was there and fixed it within 48 hours. Unfortunately, all my kitchen appliances and 2 TVs went kaput within the next month. Needed surge protection.

Anonymous said...

I have great sympathy for all the people who still lack power. Entergy does a good job in general but they do need to trim trees away from the lines. Fallen trees and limbs are almost invariably the reason for outages in rural areas such as where we live. I've asked Entergy about this in the past and was told that it is cheaper for them to repair broken lines when a tree falls than it is for them to constantly trim trees.

Anonymous said...

@9:52
Surge protectors don’t do diddly squat for lightning strikes. You would need a high voltage lightning arrestor.

Anonymous said...

It seems like every few years we have a 10-50-100 year storm/flood.

May it's time to recalibrate how we measure weather events. I assure you insurance companies already have.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with that.
It’s secret info.
The path to global climate and weather follows this path in order:
Space weather/Solar Wind > Earth’s magnetic field> global volcanology/Pacific Ring of Fire/submarine volcanoes > Ocean temperatures and changes in warm/cold currents > Jet Stream > Climate/Weather > Humans > animals

Anonymous said...

But he's not wrong.


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