Traffic signals go dark in R’land outage

A roughly one-hour-long power outage that affected more than 1,000 customers in Ridgeland on Tuesday was not related to Tropical Strom Ida, Entergy officials said.

Sandy Powlett, customer service manager for Entergy, said Wednesday morning that the outages were due to equipment failure on two circuits. 

She said the power went out about 3 p.m. Tuesday and was restored by 3:51 p.m. Tuesday even though early repair times estimated that the repairs could take as long as five hours.

“Our crews were able to find the issue and have it repaired and resolved quickly,” Powlett said.

She said about 1,031 customers were left without power south of the Natchez Trace along U.S. 51 and west of I-55.

The Ridgeland Police Department warned that power was out at several intersections. They reported the traffic signal lights were out where U.S. 51 intersects with Ridgewood Road, Lake Harbour and School Street as well Lake Harbour Drive and Wheatley Street.

RPD officers were stationed at each intersection directing traffic or dropped off temporary stop signs reminding motorists to treat non-functioning traffic lights as four-way stops.

“All traffic signals are cycling properly,” an RPD social media post announced when power was restored.

Powlett said that neither circuit failed in relation to Tropical Storm Ida.