Severe winter storms in the south always bring a share of severe, paralyzing conditions and Winter Storm Fern is no exception.
The storm already forced the Ole Miss women’s basketball team to push back its game to Monday before postponing the game against No. 15 Tennessee to an undetermined date.
The Rebels are also scheduled to host No. 5 Vanderbilt on Thursday night. No announcement about that game has been made.
But for the Rebels and most of the people in Oxford and surrounding areas, when a women’s college basketball game will be played is the least of their concerns.
Nearly 300,000 people in Mississippi lost power, with a significant number of people in Oxford going more than day without power.
Mississippi Department of Transportation announced many trees and power lines had collapsed due to the intense freeze. Oxford experience a heavy accumulation of ice which caused the damages and loss of power.
Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill posted on Facebook an update Sunday night saying most of the primary roadways were cleared, but work was still being done on secondary neighborhood streets.
However, Sunday night/Monday morning saw temperatures dip well below freezing and crews were out early clearing roads and making repairs.
Tannehill posted an update on Monday morning. Here’s that full update:
We are thankful for the sunshine this morning and ready to give it all we’ve got to get roads cleared and power on to as many people as we can today.
A quick update on roads – the bitter cold last night did us no favors on the roads, however, crews are at it already this morning clearing trees and limbs and putting out slag. The hills and highway ramps are in really bad shape this morning. Don’t let the sunshine give you a false security about road conditions – they are still very dangerous.
And a quick update on our plan of attack for restoring power today – Crews have arrived from Tennessee and Alabama and we are so grateful. Others are on the way. We plan to divide and conquer today. Oxford Utilities has put 2 right of way crews and a line crew on 5 different circuits this morning to make the biggest impact. We are hopeful that we will get power back on for many residents today. AS of this morning, we have 10 of 16 circuits still down.
I feel extremely guilty that I have power when so many do not. People have certainly let me know that they are disappointed to see that I have power. I want you to know that I live in an area served by Northeast Power not City of Oxford Utilities. I had no hand in determining when power would come back on. We lost power about 3 am on Sunday morning and it was restored to a good part of our neighborhood around 4:30 Sunday afternoon. I pray that both Oxford Utilities and Northeast Power have success in restoring power to many of you today.
We had about 110 people at the Oxford Conference Center overnight. This morning we have folks that stayed there needing to go back home to get medications. Please bring anything you will need when you come. We have received many calls asking for transportation to the warming shelter. We don’t have the manpower to meet all of these requests. We are focused on transporting those with medical issues and those who are elderly. In many cases, roadways are still blocked but we are doing our best to accommodate our citizens who need to be transported. The Oxford Conference Center shelter is open now and we invite anyone needing shelter to come.
The Lafayette County arena is also open and accommodate people overnight. I am told that the Pavilion on campus and the Student Union are providing shelter to students who can get to those locations.
I want to address something I said yesterday that I should have been more clear about. I stated that we begged people to prepare and I am so sorry for those who didn’t but it is impossible for us to get to everyone in these conditions as much as we wish we could. That was in response to many requests sent directly to me and to OPD to deliver food to students at apartment complexes who did not buy food before the storm hit. There was no way for individuals to prepare for the ice we have or the cold temperatures. I know that. I apologize that my comment was insensitive. I want to solve every problem that is thrown at us and my comment was simply out of frustration that we can’t get to all of those folks who need food and can’t get out. I am so hopeful that debris on our roads will be moved today allowing more people to get out.
I know people are frustrated. I know people are cold. I know there are people with needs I cannot imagine. Please know we are working as hard and as fast as we can to get power back on.
To the Ole Miss parents who are far away from your students – I know it is stressful not to be close to help your kids. We aren’t forgetting about them! I promise.
Hang in there folks. We will get through this together. Take care of yourselves and check on your neighbors. I will give another update this afternoon.
