Elon Musk is sending more than 500 generators to Tippah County as the northeastern Mississippi county continues to suffer from widespread power outages stemming from last weekend’s winter storm, Mississippi Development Authority executive director Bill Cork confirmed Monday morning.
Cork, who recently helped broker a $20 billion-plus deal with Musk’s xAI in Southaven, said Musk’s team has been working with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to ensure the generators are delivered.
“They have a tremendous heart, really. In fact, I was on the phone yesterday with the company representatives in Southaven, [and] Elon Musk is donating over 500 generators to support the recovery effort,” Cork said on Mornings with Richard Cross. “Pictures were sent to me yesterday loading up the trucks in Atlanta ready to ship 500 generators to Tippah County. They’ll be arriving by noon today.”
Residents of Tippah County, where over 8,300 outages remained as of Monday morning, were warned on Jan. 25 – hours after the storm moved out – that restoring electricity would be a lengthy process. Tippah Electric Power Association, an electric cooperative that partners with the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide power to most of the county’s homes and businesses, said the local electric system sustained “catastrophic damage” from the icy precipitation.
TVA and Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown have confirmed that several transmission lines have been energized, but more work remains before power can be fully restored countywide.
Tippah County was one of 51 counties damaged by the storm, which is being considered Mississippi’s worst winter weather event since 1994. Statewide, 23 people are confirmed to have died from it, two of whom were in Tippah County.
