GULFPORT, Miss. - Sept. 1, 2008 - Hurricane Gustav began making its landfall early this morning as a Category 2 hurricane. After a quiet night, Mississippi Power had 3,455 customers without service at 8 a.m.

Employees worked outages until winds picked up to the point that it was not safe to be out. Only about 650 customers were out at 6 a.m.

While the eye of the storm was entering south central Louisiana as forecasted, large feeder bands with rain and wind gusts above 40 mph moved in from the east across the Mississippi Power service area. Severe weather is expected to last throughout most of the day.

For their safety, crews will remain called off until the storm passes through. Once it is safe to do so late today, crews will begin assessing the damage. About 1,300 contract linemen and 300 tree trimmers are staged and ready to begin assisting the company on Tuesday morning.

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Media Contact: Cindy Duvall, MPC Corporate Communications, 228.865.5543 or 1.800.821.6383, cwduvall@southernco.com