More than 6,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water customers in Collierville were left without electricity Sunday afternoon, prompting local police to warn drivers to treat dead traffic signals as four-way stops while crews worked to restore service. The outage struck a town still recovering from a far larger blackout just over a week earlier.
According to the MLGW outage map, 6,277 customers were without power in the Collierville area Sunday, a figure reported by Action News 5. The Collierville Police Department said it was aware of the outage and confirmed that MLGW had been notified, per the same report.
Collierville police advised residents that any intersection with a completely dark traffic signal should be treated as a four-way stop, telling drivers to slow down, use caution, and make sure it is safe before proceeding. That guidance lines up with Tennessee law: under Tennessee Code Annotated § 55-8-110, motorists approaching an intersection with an inoperable or completely unpowered signal are legally required to come to a full stop before entering, as though the light were a four-way stop.
Downed Lines and How to Report Them
Anyone who spots a downed power line or other electrical emergency should stay away from the area and call CPD dispatch at 901-853-3207, according to the police department. The warning echoes standard safety guidance issued after a July incident in which a fallen utility pole near the Collierville Town Square brought down live lines on Main Street and Mt. Pleasant Road, closing roadways and drawing a response from Collierville live-wire street closure crews and MLGW…