Storms swept through the area in the early morning hours on Thursday with winds that took down trees and power lines.
Shank Phelps, Emergency Management Director of Oktibbeha County, said around 200 people were without power throughout the county on Thursday morning. There
were 21 reports of trees that had fallen and were across the road, and some trees fell on on power lines.
The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office patrolled the streets Thursday morning for any additional damage and the county road crews worked on clearing the blocked roads.
There were no reports of damage outside of trees in the road.
A Starkville Utilities crew started off the morning at 8:30 a.m. repairing a power line on University Drive, near Little Dooey’s and on the outskirts of the Oddfellow’s Cemetery.
They moved to a pole that was split in half from another downed tree on Setter Street, a tributary road near Old West Point Road.
Starkville Utilities General Manager Terry Kemp said there were around 1,200 to 1,500 people affected by the outages. Three main areas affected were
down Stark Road, University Drive, and the Rolling Hills community.
Most of the outages were caused by wind damage that occurred around 6:30 a.m., but Kemp said most lines were back up by the early afternoon.
“We really appreciate the customers calling, but at the same time, being understanding,”Kemp said. “At the end of the day, I think everything is back in good shape.”