Weeks after ice storm in northeast Mississippi, 25,000 still without power: “It’s a lot worse than we thought”

Nearly two weeks after a catastrophic ice storm rocked northeast Mississippi, still 25,000 customers are without power as of Thursday, and the situation is getting more dire by the day for people who are taking on overwhelming financial burdens to stay warm and retain some normalcy.

The Golden family of Taylor, Mississippi, a town just 20 minutes south of Oxford, said they have been dipping into savings to pay for the high cost of propane for their small space heater and fuel for their $400 generator they bought five days ago. The generator can only run a few things at a time, so they use it for an electric space heater and occasionally the TV at night for entertainment for their 7-year-old son, Tylin. 

They put a special pipe fitting tape around the window sills and door frame to keep cold air out, and they keep water boiling perpetually on their gas stove, not only to have warm water to bathe with, but also to help keep their kitchen warm. 

The family of three sleeps in their living room at night — the warmest room in the house. 

“We wasn’t expecting it to be this bad,” Tambra Golden said with tears in her eyes in an interview with CBS News. “We kind of figured that we was gonna be without lights for a few days, and we thought the Northeast (Northeast Mississippi Electric Power Association) and the power company, they was going to be able to go through and fix things and get us back to where up and running, but I see that it is, it’s a lot, it’s a lot worse than what we thought it was gonna be.”

Tambra Golden said she and her husband have been working as food delivery drivers to drum up some extra cash to pay for more propane. The two said they are also grateful to have received some donations from a local church. 

“All we can do now is pray that when we do get lights and able to move, that we can build our savings back up and get back to where we were before this happened,” she said. 

Northeast Mississippi Electric Power Association spokesperson Sarah Brooke Bishop told CBS News earlier this week that crews from Mississippi and several neighboring states are working tirelessly until all power is restored, but the massive, widespread damage of fallen trees and power lines has created serious obstacles. 

An hour north of Oxford, in Ripley, Miss., some families tell CBS News their local power company has informed them it will be at least another week before all power is restored. 

Part of the challenge is that even though much of the mainline infrastructure has been restored, crews now have to go from house to house to get people back online. 

According to Jill Knox, a spokesperson with the Oxford public school district, 30% of their staff were still without power as of Feb 4. 

“It’s still pretty dire,” Knox said. 

At a donation event at Oxford Middle School on Wednesday, volunteers passed out meals, snacks and coats to families in need. Volunteer staff members are also helping deliver items to families. 

Knox says they have been feeding up to 600 people a day with free hot meals. She says she’s aware of several other food drives in town that have also been helping hundreds of people a day. 

“I cannot say enough great things about everyone in this community,” Knox said. 

Some people in Oxford, Miss., are just grateful to be alive. 

Brindin Chandler, 20, of Oxford, said last week, during the ice storm, instead of sleeping in, he was volunteering his time to help crews chainsaw and remove fallen trees.

When he came home around 10 a.m., as he was walking up to his mobile home, he watched a large tree fall right through his home and onto his bed. If he had not been out helping others, and instead at home sleeping, the tree would have landed on top of him. 

“Because we were doing that is the only reason that I wasn’t in there,” Chandler said.

He chalks it up to “luck.”

“I never thought it would happen to me,” Chandler said. “Glad to be alive.”

As soon as he saw it fall, he said, “I instantly ran right over here to look for my cats, but I couldn’t find them.”

One of his two cats inside the home at the time died, but the other survived. It took three days for them to sort through the rubble before they found the cat’s body. Chandler still has a lot of cleaning up left to go. 

It was his starter home. He had lived in the mobile home for almost two years. Now he’s living with his dad until he can find another place. He also works for his father, and the two of them even play in a metal rock band together. 

Since the storm hit, he has been working around the Oxford community to help others with all of their tree damage and debris. He said it’s felt good to be a part of “one community.”

Asked about how he’s kept a positive attitude, helping other clear trees off their houses while he still has a tree on his own, he said, “well, they say life is what you make it, if you stay negative, everything in front of you will probably be negative, if you stay positive, everything will at least seem that way.”