More than 3,300 still without power after storms
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - For homeowners across the Mid-South, the high winds caused problems well before the rain arrived, including in one neighborhood hit hard more than a decade ago by "Hurricane Elvis".
The lights of fast food restaurants facing Union Avenue have been out for hours, along with the lights of neighborhood homes. High winds brought on the darkness.
Wednesday morning, the usually busy intersection at Cooper Street and Union Avenue was still dark. Police camped out all night to make sure drivers treated the intersection as a four-way stop to avoid confusion.
Traffic lights are also out at the following intersections:
- Highland Street between Southern Avenue and Midland Avenue
- Germantown Road at Neshoba Road
- S. Bellevue Boulevard at E. McLemore Avenue
- Poplar Avenue at Scott Avenue
"I really can't believe it," resident Camille King said.
A dozen years after "Hurricane Elvis" destroyed a stretch of Linden Avenue, King had another mess to clean up Tuesday. Trees came down in her backyard and utility poles were snapped in half. Crews soon arrived to assess the damage.
"I think it's worse than it was with Elvis because we were the two blocks hit the worse," King said.
WMC Action News 5 crews tracked the high wind damage from Midtown to Frayser, where a massive tree was found in the middle of Renardo Jernigan's house.
"I was in the front room and heard this little crack and I had told my grandma to run," Jernigan said.
The tree ended up blocking Stephanie Avenue, in the same spot where Jernigan said a neighbor normally parks.
"Her daughter's car be right there everyday, so, we're happy she wasn't right there," Jernigan said.
A car on Rhodes Avenue was not so lucky, however, but at least no one was in it when another large tree toppled over and crushed it like a can.
"Some people are going to be really busy cleaning up the mess," resident Emma Wilson said.
But for King, one thing remains.
"Life goes on," she said.
As of Wednesday morning, MLGW reports that about 3,500 customers are still without power. Click here see the outage map.
MLGW is working to get these back up as soon as possible, but many areas will not see power until Wednesday night.
Copyright 2015 WMC Action News 5. All rights reserved.
