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Outages persist in parts of the South as more cold weather is expected to arrive

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some other news now. More than 200,000 people are still without power in parts of the South after last week's winter storm. Another cold front is forecast to hit this weekend. Here's Will Stribling of Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

WILL STRIBLING, BYLINE: Oxford, Mississippi - home of the University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss - is typically a vibrant college town. But the winter storm has left much of the area difficult to navigate, with fallen trees and downed power lines slowing recovery efforts. Ole Miss canceled classes through next week, and senior Calvin Wood says students like him, who lost power, had to get creative.

CALVIN WOOD: My roommates made, like, a makeshift stove with a candle with, like, three wicks that would heat up your ramen just, like, to a slight steaming.

STRIBLING: Wood and his roommates were eventually able to shelter with others at a house with a gas stove and a fireplace. They played board games and occasionally ventured out.

WOOD: It is insane, the damage that we saw as we were driving through - the roads and the power lines and just all the debris around. Felt like we were in a war zone.

STRIBLING: Across Mississippi, tens of thousands of customers remain without electricity. Six hundred and fifty members of the state's National Guard have been deployed to assist with logistics as crews continue working to clear debris and restore power. For days, Summer Hill-Vinson and her family relied on a fireplace for heat and cooking as temperatures inside the house dropped into the 40s. The family lives in a wooded area outside the city limits. She says neighbors are relying on each other for support.

SUMMER HILL-VINSON: We have seen no organized help at all. I have been really grateful to be a part of a group of people who's been checking on each other. But I am concerned about what the next several days look like, the next couple of weeks.

STRIBLING: More prolonged sub-freezing temperatures are expected this weekend, and Governor Tate Reeves says this will create further complications for recovery efforts that have just started to gain momentum.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TATE REEVES: It's going to be brutally cold again in the state of Mississippi. And so that creates a large number of other challenges, particularly for those who have not yet gotten power back.

STRIBLING: Oxford is also dealing with major issues with its water system after pipes froze and cracked. The county has set up water and food distribution sites. It's not clear yet when power and water services will be back to normal.

For NPR News, I'm Will Stribling.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Will Stribling