With power restoration unlikely for at least several days,emergency officials today were encouraging citizens to conservewater and stay off the roadways.

“We strongly urge people if you do not have to get out, pleasestay at home,” said Clifford Galey, Brookhaven-Lincoln County CivilDefense director.

City and county officials were considering implementing anight-time curfew, depending on the power situation.

Kenny Goza, Entergy customer accounts manager, said thebest-case scenario is to have power restored in a couple of days tosome customers and the worst-case scenario is a couple ofweeks.

“We’re in total blackout from Jackson south,” Goza said.

Goza said crews are working to restore feeder lines tosubstations and local crews are focusing on distribution circuits.Hospitals and other health care facilities and water wells are thepriorities, Goza said.

Azalea Knight, with Southwest EPA, said all of their customersare without power. She said the association receives its power fromEntergy transmission stations, so it would be Tuesday afternoon atthe earliest before power restoration efforts could begin.

Due to the power outage, Mayor Bob Massengill was urgingcitizens to conserve water and limit flushing of toilets. He saidtwo of the city’s eight water wells were working.

“We’ve got some capacity, but we’re far short of full capacity,”the mayor said.

Massengill said the water is safe, but it is a question ofquantity.

“We hope to get the wells functioning again as soon as we getpower,” Massengill said.

Coroner Clay McMorris said there were no storm-relatedfatalities in the county. Galey said he knew of no major injuriesdue to the storm.

Celine Craig, KDMC emergency medical services director, saidambulances were up and running.

“We’ll respond to calls as they come in, prioritizing them,”Craig said. “It may take us a little longer to get there because wehave to go slow.”

Craig said anyone needing oxygen should contact theirprovider.

Jennifer Jackson, KDMC director of marketing, said the hospitalwas operating off emergency. Jackson said the facility has enoughfood for patients and staff, but she discouraged citizens fromtrying to eat at the hospital’s cafeteria.

Schools were closed today and their status for Wednesday and therest of the week was uncertain, civil defense officials said.School officials were unavailable for comment.

The Mississippi School of the Arts Student Life Center wasoperating on auxiliary power. Galey reported no problems there.

Officials reported numerous power lines and trees down on citystreets and county roadways. Galey said there were over 100 roadsthat are not passable.

“The road situation is terrible,” Galey said.

City and county crews and volunteer firefighters worked intoMonday night to get some major roads passable.

“We’ll work off the major arteries trying to get to as manypeople as we can,” Galey said.

Crews resumed work this morning. Galey estimated 75 percent ofcounty roads were still impassable.

“We hope to improve on that tremendously before today’s over,”he said.

Galey said it would be a minimum of several days for other roadscould be open.

Police Chief Pap Henderson said city street conditions were”unreal” with the number of downed trees or power lines on homes.He estimated 90 percent of city streets either had trees down orpower lines over the road.

“It’s like a war zone in this town,” Henderson said.

Officials this morning were focusing on getting gasoline anddiesel for law enforcement and emergency vehicles.

“We’ve got to keep our emergency vehicles going,” Galeysaid.

An estimated over 600 people remained housed in several sheltersaround the city. Food for the evacuees emergency workers and thegeneral public, if needed, were another focus this morning.

“We’re working on trying to get meals in here to feed ourpeople,” said Galey, who was optimistic that officials are on topof that situation.

Galey said ice and water were also being sought. He saidinformation on their availability for public use would bedistributed through the media.

After the storm passed Monday evening, homeowners and businessowners began surveying damage. Although other areas could have seenmore, a rain gauge behind the civil defense office indicated 4.5inches of rain fell during the storm.

“It was like a field of spaghetti,” said Ted Ratcliff indescribing the swaying of trees at his farm on East LincolnRoad.

Goza advised citizens to use extreme caution. He said theyshould stay away for downed power lines and be careful withgenerators.

“It’s not worth anybody getting killed over,” Goza said.