State of Emergency declared by Shelby County Mayor following string of severe storms

SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — After a string of severe thunderstorms moved across the Mid-South region causing significant damage, water contamination and power outages, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has declared a state of emergency for the county as a whole.

Wind gusts reached estimated speeds of 80 to 90 miles per hour, according to the mayor. Homes, businesses and public property all suffered damage.

On July 21 alone, the number of power outages surged to more than 29,000 customers, according to MLGW’s outage map. Harris said that the multiple storms were responsible for loss of power to 130,000 customers.

The City of Germantown is still working to provide Germantown residents with clean water after diesel leaked into the city’s water supply on July 20.

They said water customers east of Forest Hill Irene Road can resume consumption and normal use of water as of 9 p.m. Sunday night. An interactive map that identifies the specific area (in blue) is available here.

Still, the City is asking customers who still detect an odor in their water to notify CustomerService@Germantown-TN.gov or call (901) 757-7200.

MLGW said at about 11 a.m. Monday that they reduced the number of customers impacted to just under 4,000.

“We haven’t forgotten our customers who have been off since Tuesday,” the company said in a statement. “The severe back-to-back storms last week impacted around 216,000 customers and 212,000 have since been restored.”

The company stressed that customers should continue to call in order to report their outage and not assume they are aware of it.