Over 40K without power morning after deadly tornado outbreak in Middle TN
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tens of thousands of people are dealing with outages after deadly tornado activity passed through Middle Tennessee late Saturday afternoon.
At 7:50 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10, the Nashville Electric Service (NES) outage map showed 27,507 customers are without power in the aftermath of the tornado outbreak.
“Our system operations team is already assessing damage and putting plans together to restore power. To keep our staff safe, NES field crews will not be able to roll out on bucket trucks until the weather system clears our area,” NES wrote on Facebook shortly before 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9. “CRITICAL INFO: With many power lines expected to be on the ground, it is important for everyone to stay away. It will be tough to see them in the dark as well. Keep family members far away from storm debris.”
3 dead following severe weather in Davidson County; damage extends to Sumner County
The largest NES outages appear to be in the Madison, Goodlettsville, Hendersonville, Saundersville, and Old Hickory Lake areas.
NES released the following statement just after 9:30 p.m. Saturday:
At Nashville Electric Service, we are saddened by the loss and devastation caused by today’s deadly storms and are committed to help the Nashville region recover.
At this hour, NES crews continue to assess damage across the entire service area. Currently there are about 39,000 customers without power. We know the North and Hendersonville substations were significantly damaged, and we have support crews on site to determine the extent of repairs needed and to develop restoration plans. We are also working with TVA on assessing the transmission lines feeding the Hendersonville area.
NES is taking extra precautions to keep crews safe while continuing to work 24/7 until all power is restored, and additional crews have been called in. Right now, our major focus is on the transmission infrastructure and substations that supply power to the Hendersonville area. We are working to restore as much power as possible, as quickly as possible, but the damage is severe and it will take our crews time as the assessments continue into the morning.
Never go near fallen power lines. If you encounter one, assume that it is still live and carries an electric charge. Stay away and call 911 and caution anyone nearby about the hazard. If you experience a power outage, report it right away through NESPower.com or by calling 615-736-6900 or by texting “OUT” to 637797(NESPWR) if you enabled the texting function on your account (register by logging in to your account at NESPower.com/my-account and accessing text alerts from the menu).
LIVE COVERAGE: Strong storms moving across Middle Tennessee Saturday
Meanwhile, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation reported 83 members impacted by outages as of 7:50 a.m. Sunday, broken down among the following counties:
Sumner County: 70 members affected
Robertson County: 1 member affected
Montgomery County: 3 members affected
Stewart County: 9 members affected
1 child, 2 adults dead; State of Emergency declared in Clarksville after tornado activity
CDE Lightband, which serves the Clarksville area, reported at 7:50 a.m. Sunday there are 13,176 customers affected by outages, split among 32 active outage groups.
Middle Tennessee Electric only announced one major outage, which was reported at 5:02 p.m. Saturday in Wilson County, where 6,995 customers were without power by 5:45 p.m. However, as of 7:50 a.m. Sunday, no outages were reported.
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