Thousands of Mid-South residents without power Sunday, Hernando declares local emergency

Hernando declared a local emergency Sunday morning after a line of severe weather hit the Mid-South.

Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson said he joined the Board of Aldermen in a special meeting Sunday at 8:10 a.m. to declare the emergency.

In a Facebook post, Johnson said the emergency "enabled us to bring in local help and accept help from the Desoto County Road Department."

Across Shelby and Desoto County, power lines, trees, and flooding overtook the areas overnight and into Sunday morning after major storms blew through with hail, lightning, thunder, and wind gusts of up to 65 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Memphis.

Johnson said Hernando "has been hit pretty hard with what appears to have been a tornado." However, NWS Memphis has not reported tornadoes as of Sunday at 11:15 a.m.

More than 800 residents in Hernando were without power as of late Sunday morning, according to Entergy Mississippi, an electric service provider.

"Outages as of 7:00 p.m. (Saturday) are at 38,149," Entergy said in a release. "The storm damage to our systems is extensive and as of 4 p.m., our crews have found 161 damaged poles, more than 177,000 feet of downed power lines, 123 damaged cross arms and 40 damaged transformers."

Memphis, Light, Gas, and Water reported 44,671 customers without power Sunday morning, but as of 11:20 a.m., the number reduced to 24,935 customers.

The weather service asks residents in the area to prepare for more severe weather Sunday afternoon through the evening with threats of damaging winds, large hail, and possible flooding and tornadoes.

NWS Memphis said the chance of severe weather declined, but the Mid-South still has an 80% chance of showers and thunderstorms Sunday evening around 8 p.m. with winds around 10 mph.

Dima Amro covers the suburbs for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at Dima.Amro@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @AmroDima.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Hernando declares emergency, thousands in Mid-South without power