Power Outages Reported Across Mississippi and Louisiana

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Area power companies and associations are reporting power outages across Mississippi and Louisiana.

It’s due to strong winds associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Olga sliding through New Orleans and into Mississippi this morning.

Wind gusts were reported as high as 60 mph in the New Orleans Metro as the core of the storm slid by, according to the National Weather Service and local media outlets.

A gust of 71 mph was reported in Tupelo after 12 p.m.  Other areas have seen sustained gusts between 50 – 60 mph as the core of the storm rolled through.

As Olga approaches Northeast Missisippi and West Alabama, the National Weather Service has issued wind advisories for much of our area today.

They expect gusty winds between 20-30 mph with gusts as high as 45 mph at times.

“With these wind gusts increasing over the next few hours and soils already saturated, we’re expecting downed trees and power outages to become more of an issue,” said Daniel Lamb, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Jackson.

As of 12:00 p.m., 170,000 customers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were without power.  The number has been as high as 220,000 customers.

Catch their latest forecast online at WCBI.com/weather and on your WCBI Mobile App.