Ice storm recovery stretches to a week as Mississippi shivers without power

Mississippi residents began confronting the consequences of the worst ice storm in more than 30 years on Monday as they huddled in darkened, freezing homes with no clear timeline for restored electricity. Recovery could take a week or more, officials said, leaving tens of thousands without heat or running water across a band stretching from eastern Texas through north Louisiana and Mississippi into Tennessee.

The ice storm has descended on one of the nation’s poorest states, forcing difficult choices for residents without heat as temperatures remained dangerously low. Gov. Tate Reeves activated National Guard troops and requested additional generators from federal authorities as the state scrambled to operate shelters and maintain critical services including water pumps at medical facilities.

Destruction across a frozen landscape

Adrian Ronca-Hohn, a 23-year-old football coach in Iuka in Mississippi’s hilly northeast corner, described the ice storm’s impact on his property. “I mean, it looks like a war zone out here,” he said, estimating that the storm toppled around 40 trees surrounding his home. He and relatives planned to chainsaw their way out Tuesday.

When the ice began toppling trees before dawn Sunday, Ronca-Hohn could not see the destruction but heard it clearly. “We couldn’t go 10 seconds without hearing what sounded like a gunshot,” he said. “You’d hear a pop, a hard pop, and you’d hear the whistle of it falling, and then it would crash to the ground and just kind of explode. And every now and again, you’d hear one real close, like, right outside. It was a sleepless night.”

Marshall Ramsey, an editorial cartoonist who teaches journalism at the University of Mississippi, described the sounds in Oxford with similar intensity. “Trees breaking, electric transformers exploding and thunder made for a ‘demonic symphony,’” Ramsey said, recounting the night when his house interior had dropped to about 50 degrees by Monday morning.

Power Outages and Utility Failures

Power outages had dropped below 150,000 by Monday afternoon, but Mississippi retained the largest share of outages among any state in the region. At Alcorn County Electric Power Association in Corinth, all 19,000 customers remained without power at midday Monday.

Tennessee Valley Authority high voltage lines were down, and Sean McGrath, the cooperative’s general manager and CEO, said the utility could not fully evaluate damage until TVA restored power to substations. TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said the power provider restored connections to local utilities in parts of Tennessee on Monday but was still working on restoring all its Mississippi connections.

Residents Face Extended Hardship

Parents worried about the 20,000-plus college students at the University of Mississippi, which canceled classes and closed campus for the rest of the week. Across the state, residents had to decide whether to wait out the cold or seek shelter elsewhere.

Jamita Washington, a Vicksburg resident, wrapped herself in blankets but could see her breath inside her home. She spent two days warming up in her car before returning to her freezing house. “I wanted to wait it out, but I think I have to,” she said, referring to her search for a hotel room. “I can’t take another chance on it. It was extremely cold last night.”

Jackson Mills, 25, said he was staying with his wife, son and in-laws at his grandfather’s house in Corinth, where a gas fireplace provided heat. The family had purchased a generator from nearby Tennessee. “We’d like for all this to mostly go away, just melt away, but it’s just so dadgum cold that it’s not melting,” Mills said.

Things worsened in Tippah County, where not only was power out, but most residents lacked running water or natural gas service. State Rep. Jody Steverson of Ripley said low temperatures would make conditions “life-threatening.” He communicated by text because cellphone service was failing.

Government Response and Recovery

Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday that he was deploying 500 National Guard soldiers by Wednesday to remove debris and control traffic. He said 61 shelters and warming centers were operating in 30 counties, and the state had doubled its request for generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 30 to 60 to provide power to shelters, nursing homes, hospitals and water systems.

The state was distributing cots, blankets, prepackaged meals and bottled water across the affected region.

“We will get through this,” Reeves said. “We’re not going to get through it today and we’re not going to get through it tomorrow.”

Officials warned that recovery could stretch a week or more as residents faced extended periods without power, heat, or running water. The impact was concentrated in a band stretching from eastern Texas through north Louisiana and Mississippi into Tennessee, with the most severe effects concentrated in Mississippi.

The ice storm represents one of the worst in the state in more than 30 years, leaving Ramsey with a wry observation about conditions in his Oxford neighborhood. “Apparently, the new status symbol in this town is having electricity,” he said. “It’s a mess.”