Thousands Still Without Power After Nashville Ice Storm

Residents of Nashville, Tennessee, have raised concerns about infrastructure and emergency response as the city continues to recover from a historic ice storm.

The storm left hundreds of thousands without power or running water.

Winter Storm Fern knocked out electricity to about 230,000 Nashville Electric Service customers at its peak.

The Tennessean reported that more than a week later, tens of thousands of people remained without electricity, with full restoration in some areas not expected until Feb. 9.

Vanderbilt University law student Isaiah Sirois was among those still without power and water days after the storm. A falling tree branch also damaged his car, shattering the rear window.

Sirois said the experience changed how he views the city.

"Great city to visit. Not so great a city to live in," he told The Tennessean, citing what he described as underinvestment in infrastructure.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell announced the creation of a commission to review Nashville Electric Service's preparation and response.

The commission will have authority to hold hearings and request assistance from the Metropolitan Auditor, with initial findings expected within six months.

O'Connell said NES was "unequipped to communicate about a crisis" after a meeting with utility executives. He said information shared internally but not with city officials earlier in the storm would have affected public guidance.

Criticism of the utility mounted quickly after the storm. NES called in outside linemen and vegetation crews, but residents and some officials questioned the pace of restoration.

Unionized linemen said they were turned away, while NES said it relied on contract workers who are familiar with its system. In a video message, NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin described the storm as the largest outage event in the company's history.

The Davidson County Medical Examiner is reviewing whether five recent deaths were related to the storm, including that of a 79-year-old woman found in a home with temperatures near 44 degrees.

At least two deaths are suspected to involve carbon monoxide poisoning.

Local, state, and federal officials have publicly criticized the utility's response, including Gov. Bill Lee and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

NES has stopped participating in the city's daily media briefings and instead has held separate updates.

The utility has launched a new map of areas that still don't have power and estimated times of restoration of service by ZIP code. Some residents said communication tools should have been improved long before the storm.

"I think the NES response has been such a failure that change has to happen," one Nashville resident told The Tennessean.

According to Axios, while most of the South is recovering from recent winter storms, conditions in Nashville and parts of Mississippi remain difficult.

At least 37 deaths have been reported across the region, including 21 in Tennessee and 16 in Mississippi, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency operations briefing.

As of Monday morning, more than 28,000 customers in Tennessee and more than 50,000 in Mississippi were still without power, according to PowerOutage.us.