Tens of thousands of residents across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana were still without power or heat on Wednesday, as officials and linemen labored to recover from a brutal winter storm that debilitated the South over the weekend.
Hundreds of power lines and poles remained damaged after nearly an inch of accumulated ice sent trees, branches and utility infrastructure crashing to the ground late Saturday into early Sunday. Temperatures were hovering near or below freezing for much of Wednesday, making it an increasingly expensive and dire endeavor to stay warm.
In the city of Monroe, La., some residents remained under an advisory to boil water, after the storm caused temporary issues with the water system. In Oxford, Miss., where the University of Mississippi campus will remain closed through next Sunday, Mayor Robyn Tannehill said that National Guard troops would arrive to help the city recover.
Parts of two interstate highways in North Mississippi also remained closed for ice removal as of Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s been pretty devastating for our community,” said Sarah Hoffman, who works at the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana. The food bank still had power, but her own power remained out on Wednesday and some partner food pantries had lost power and stored food. “For two days sitting in my house, all I heard was cracking and falling of giant limbs, trees breaking down, transformers blowing,” she said, adding, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The ongoing power outages came after a potent combination of freezing rain and low temperatures coated much of the region in ice. Few power lines, trees, pieces of infrastructure or households were spared, and on Wednesday, there was still concern about trees and branches continuing to fall as work continued.
Nashville and the surrounding Davidson County accounted for a majority of Tennessee’s power outages as of Wednesday. Officials said it was very likely that outages would continue at least through the coming weekend.
As of early afternoon, about 100,000 customers remained without power, according to Nashville Electric Service, close to a quarter of the entire service base. At the peak of the outage, about 230,000 customers were without power. Some neighborhoods were still littered with debris, with piles of jagged branches and icy tree trunks sprawled in yards and on parts of roads.
William Swann, the Nashville Fire Department chief, told residents on Wednesday to utilize “a plan B” and head to safe locations with power and heat, including warming locations and shelters, if they had access to them. The city and other organizations were working to transport people if needed, he said.
For many residents, the frustration over the bitter temperatures was compounded by anger toward Nashville Electric Service, which sometimes texted inaccurate updates and did not offer specific timelines for when power would be restored. (The service said it was working to prevent those incorrect updates and provide more detailed information.)
“We are still making progress and scaling up our resources,” said Brent Baker, a senior official with the agency. He said that the organization was focused on the largest groups of outages, some of which were affecting more than 1,000 people, and that the organization had at least 900 crew members working to repair lines and clear trees and branches.
He added, “We are nonstop.”
City officials said the storm had caused the largest number of power outages at a single time in the history of the municipal electric service. Mayor Freddie O’Connell called it “a once-in-a-generation” event on Wednesday.
In the absence of power, community organizations and neighbors were creating a patchwork of assistance for one another. People were taking in friends, while hotel lobbies became community hubs for children in pajamas and dogs in snow jackets.
Some restaurants were offering free hot meals, while other residents were checking on neighbors and helping to bring them supplies if downed limbs prevented them from leaving their homes.
Jamie McGee contributed reporting.
Emily Cochrane is a national reporter for The Times covering the American South, based in Nashville.
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