Mississippi’s largest elecritcity provider said some customers will not see their power back on until next week.

Although crews are busy trying to restore powers, icy road conditions are hampering efforts, officials say.

“So we’re looking at some of the outages stretching from early to mid next week,” said Entergy Mississippi spokesperson Mara Hartman. “We know that’s very hard to hear and we ask customers to be patient and we’re restoring everyone as quickly as we’re safely able to do so.”

Mississippi officials are calling this week’s winter storm, one of the worst storms to hit the state in decades.

“Worst ice storm since 1994,” explained Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley told WLBT News in Jackson. “The width of it is worse than 1994. The single digit temperatures we saw on Tuesday morning and then the ice that came through yesterday was the real culprit. The freezing rain and ice is why outages went from a peak on Monday of 64,000 on Monday to 200,000 this morning.”

Entergy Mississippi has 180 crew members coming over from Arkansas to help with restoration. And other power companies are working with contractors to supplement their crews.

Safety tips for Entergy:

• Stay away from downed power lines. You can’t tell from looking at them whether they are energized or not, so assume they are. Report them to 1-800-9OUTAGE.
• Report your power outage online or call 1-800-9OUTAGE. If you report your outage by phone, trust the automated system. There is no need to speak with a customer service representative to report an outage.
• If you have a portable generator, use it safely. DO NOT run it in an enclosed space. If connecting to the whole house, do so only if the connection has been installed by a licensed electrician. More information is available on Entergy Stormcenter.
• Stay clear of linemen as they work. Our crews continue to practice social distancing and we ask that customers do the same.