(April 13, 2022) – As we approach the severe weather season in spring, MLGW urges customers to acquaint themselves, family, and friends with a few severe weather tips and preparedness.

In any emergency situation, whether it's a tornado, ice storm, earthquake or flood, you need to be prepared for the possibility of temporary power outages. For safety reasons, you should know where your gas and water shutoff valves are located, how to identify the main electric service panel and how to turn them off in the event of an emergency.

Customers can visit MLGW’s storm readiness guide for tips on preparing for weather emergencies: mlgw.com/images/content/files/pdf/StormPrep.pdf. and watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuzqaOPWvkU. Below are a few emergency preparedness tips:

• Develop a Family Preparedness Plan that includes a safe,protected place to take cover whether at home, school,  work, outdoors or in a car when a severe weather warning is issued. Update the plans every school year, and as places of employment and residence change.
• Assemble a Family Emergency Supply Kit that includes items such as a First Aid Kit and essential medication; canned food and a can opener; at least three gallons of water per person; a battery-powered radio, flashlight and extra batteries.
• Customers should avoid contact with downed power lines—even if their home or area has experienced a loss of power as the lines could still be energized.
• If a power line falls on your car, do not get out. Use your cell phone to call MLGW immediately or get the attention of someone who can call for you. Stay inside the car until professionals have moved the power line.

Restoration Process:

• Power restoration is not a simple undertaking; it involves an impressive coordination effort of utility crews who perform complicated tasks, often under harsh and dangerous conditions.

The time required to restore your power depends on many variables including the cause of the outage, the number of components damaged, whether or not tree trimming is required to get to the point of repair, and the number of customers impacted. Please visit www.mlgw.com/restorationprocess for detailed information and a video about the process. Below is a quick overview.

Step 1: We repair any damage to transmission lines and towers. These lines carry electricity from our producer, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), to our substations.

Step 2: We repair any damage to our substations to bring circuits online and focus our attention on restoring power to water pumping stations, hospitals and other priorities critical to public health and safety.

Step 3: Beginning with areas with the greatest concentration of outages, our crews focus on repairing primary and secondary distribution lines, which run through the streets and neighborhoods leading to your home. If there are trees lying on these wires, our contracted tree trimming crews must first clear the debris.

Step 4: Repairs are made to individual service lines, such as the one shown for house B (provided the meter center is not damaged or has been repaired).

MLGW crews will continue to work quickly and safely until power is restored to all customers. Important MLGW contact information for customers:

• Outage Reporting: (901) 544-6500
• Emergency (such as downed wires or gas leaks): (901) 528-4465
• Customer Care Center: (901) 544-MLGW (6549)

MLGW is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving more than 437,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County.