Ida damage limited to a couple downed trees, power losses

Power has been restored to the more than 2,500 customers in Madison County who lost power as Tropical Storm Ida moved through Madison County on Monday after causing considerable damage in south Louisiana and south Mississippi where it came ashore Sunday morning as a category 4 hurricane.

Madison Police Capt. Kevin Newman said Madison the City had no significant reports of property damage within the city, though a downed tree was obstructing the roadway on North Old Canton near Hoy Road.

“Other than the large tree on North Old Canton Road, we had no other note-worthy incidents,” Newman said Tuesday afternoon. 

North Old Canton Road was reopened to traffic at approximately 6:00 p.m. Monday evening, according to Newman.

Canton Police Chief Otha Brown said few issues arose from the storm in Canton as well.

“We have had nothing reported related to the storm,” Otha Brown said. “Thank God for that.”

Ridgeland Public Works Director Mike McCollum said he saw reports of power outages in sections of Bridgewater, Overlook Point and Greenwood Crossing. 

Other than power outages, McCollum said the city had some reports of downed trees, which were cleared, but no other significant reports of storm-related damage. He said city workers took extra precautions in the water system to ensure service continues throughout the storm.

“People should know that Ridgeland has backup power on the water system so it is unlikely we would have disruption of service. So far, so good,” McCollum said Monday.

Entergy Customer Service Representative Sandy Powlett said that all power was restored to Madison County customers who lost power in relation to Ida by just before 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 31. She said that roughly 2,695 customers were without power in the county at peak outages.

As of Wednesday, Sept. 1, she said Entergy was reporting roughly 10,658 customers without power in the state, mostly in the southwest region.

The National Hurricane Center downgraded Ida to a tropical storm overnight as it moved inland after making landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana, Sunday morning and causing severe damage in southern Louisiana and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Millions of people in Louisiana and South Mississippi are still without electrical service.

Ida made landfall on Sunday with 150 m.p.h. winds, the fifth strongest to ever hit the US mainland. 

Ida — a Category 4 storm — hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier.