Hardworking crews clear roads, work to restore power in wake of storm/UPDATED 4-4, 1:45PM

UPDATED 4-4-18, 1:45pm: Bill Maddox has informed NAnewsweb.com that fewer than 100 New Albany Light, Gas & Water customers were still without electrical service by daylight today. Fewer than 20 had not been restored by noon. Maddox expects to have all customers back on line by sunset, April 4th.

Accuweather has issued a FREEZE WARNING for the New Albany area, effective Thursday April 5th from 1 AM CDT until Thursday at 9AM. Temperatures are expected to be between 29-32 degrees.

Original Post:

Work to clean up damage from the storm that struck Union County between 8 and 9 pm Tuesday evening went forward briskly after midnight. As of 12:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, April 4, NAnewsweb can give its readers this update.

Emergency officials told NAnewsweb.com they did not believe there were any serious injuries resulting from the storm. A driver’s car did leave the pavement of County Road 150 during the storm and hit a tree. However, injuries were believed limited to abrasions from the car’s airbag.

NALGW continued work into the early morning hours. Some power had been restored before midnight. NALGW Manager Bill Mattox said he expected electrical power to be restored to many customers by daylight and all but isolated customers to have power by Wednesday afternoon. Restoration of power to most customers on Highway 30 East and Highway 30 West could happen as early as 3 or 4 a.m.
Walmart and the stores around it were still mostly without power shortly after midnight, but Maddox said that service could be restored soon. A tree knocked down lines behind the Waffle House at the intersection of I-22 and Highway 30, and that had interrupted power to much of city south of I-22.

Ironically, Waffle House itself still had power late Tuesday night and was open for business, as was the McDonalds on Highway 30 east of Baptist Memorial Hospital. Kentucky Fried Chicken on the south side of I-22 had significant damage, was without power and closed. Burger King, Taco Bell, the Huddle House and other fast food restaurants south of I-22 were still dark after midnight. It was expected that most of the businesses on both sides of I-22 would have power back on by daylight.

Hardworking crews work to restore roadways, utilities after storm damage

NALGW crews were doing their usual exemplary job of restoring power as quickly as possible after wind storms.

Another outfit to which praise is due is the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT). We reported earlier that a four-foot diameter, century-old oak tree had been uprooted at the Union County Courthouse and was completely blocking both lanes of Bankhead Street, which is a state highway. The tree fell sometime before 9 p.m. MDOT crews with chain saws and a large front-end loader were on the scene by 9:20 p.m. By about 11 p.m. they had cut up the tree, piled the brush off the street and gone home. Bankhead St./Highway 178 was agin open to traffic from city limit to city limit.

The falling tree brushed the facade of BNA Bank, but, after the MDOT crew finished their cleanup, there appeared to be damage only to shrubbery and none to the building. Bank workers may have to kick a little brush away from the door before they open for business at 9 a.m.

Damage assessment will continue through the day Wednesday and during the rest of the week.