Public encouraged to double-check their preparations

 JACKSON, Miss. – Entergy Mississippi, Inc. is prepared for Tropical Storm Isaac to strike the company’s service area this afternoon. The storm is already affecting Entergy’s service territory as storm-caused electrical power outages have begun in Louisiana.

Based on the forecast, Entergy expects severe weather conditions to continue at least through Wednesday as the storm tracks across Louisiana and Mississippi. Isaac is a slow-moving storm that could cause tropical force winds and significant rainfall for 30 hours or more.

“We expect this to be a long and difficult restoration,” said Robbin Jeter, Entergy Mississippi director of transmission and distribution. “We expect to begin restoring service when conditions are safe for our personnel to work.”

“To ensure the safety of our people, bucket trucks are deployed when winds fall below 30 miles per hour at the location where the damage is sustained,” he added. “We’ll know more as we assess storm damage.”

The storm is expected to make landfall this afternoon, and will cause extensive power outages. To report outages and downed power lines, call 1-800-9OUTAGE. Customer outage information will be available on entergy.com.

Entergy is seeking 3,750 additional mutual assistance and contract workers from outside the service area to help restore service.

“Some have arrived and are ready to start work as soon as it is safe to do so,” said Jeter. “Isaac is a large storm and the availability and arrival of these extra resources could be affected by other utility companies using those resources to make repairs before releasing them to help Entergy.”

A severe weather guide for customers contains a wealth of information related to preparing for a storm and dealing with its aftermath. Operation: Storm Ready can be accessed at entergystormcenter.com. Also, customers can follow Entergy Mississippi’s Facebook (facebook.com/EntergyMS) and Twitter accounts (Twitter: @EntergyMS) for information.

Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to more than 437,000 customers in 45 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.