MEMPHIS, Tenn. — At its highest today, there were over 34,000 MLGW customers without power, and workers have been at it day and night working to bring that electricity back.  

With some of the damage that we saw throughout the Mid-South, that task came with challenges. It has taken 23 repair crews, 33 tree trimming crews, and 17 troubleshooters with MLGW to restore power to customers. 

It may be dark at Platinum Kutz in Hickory Hill today, but barber Bobby Harris is making light of the situation. 

“You just do what you got to do to make it work,” Harris said. “Headlight, cordless clippers, let’s go.”

Even though at 4 p.m. they were still one of roughly 12,000 customers in the Memphis area without electricity.

Harris said no lights, no power, no problems because customers need their cuts. 

Just outside, spirits weren’t nearly as bright. With closed gas stations, dark traffic lights, and endless cars flooding the road in Berclair, they’re dealing with their own set of challenges. 

“I came home for lunch and I heard a loud crash, sounded like a train, like trains hitting each other, something like that,” Justin Reed a neighbor told us.

The sound that neighbor Justin Reed heard was a tree, uprooting, and bringing down power lines with it. 

“I had no idea what was going on but the wind was crazy and I knew trees were coming down everywhere so in Memphis when it’s windy and you hear trees coming down, you duck and cover,” Reed said.

There were snapped branches and roots sticking up in the air, but perhaps the craziest part is that the homes on Tutwiler somehow still have power. 

At last check, City of Memphis utility trucks were working that scene as MLGW continues to work on their outages. Right now, there are still customers without power, but we are told crews will be working around the clock until everyone is restored.