Storm knocks out power for thousands across Tennessee and Kentucky
More than 70,000 customers in Kentucky and nearly 40,000 in Tennessee are experiencing power outages after a storm passed through the area on Friday.
The outages come amid high temperatures and a heat advisory that prompted a warning from Nashville Mayor John Cooper to take precautions.
A significant number of outages in Tennessee were in the Nashville area. An outage map shows that as of late Friday morning local time 22,963 Nashville Electric Service (NES) customers were in the dark. The company provides energy to Middle Tennessee which includes all of Nashville.
That number dropped to just over 8,000 by early afternoon. NES said the outages were due to a storm that "took down trees and power lines in several pockets of our service area."
"NES crews are activating a restoration plan that prioritizes the areas with the highest number of outages," the company said in a tweet.
According to the online tracker PowerOutage.us, 75,601 customers in Kentucky are without power while just over 36,000 are affected in Tennessee.
In nearby Clarksville, Tennessee, nearly 10,00 customers were left without power due to high winds, according to CDE Lightband, which provides electricity, digital television, and internet to the city.
UPDATE 11:45am: Many reports of downed power lines and trees. Reminder to everyone: stay away from all downed lines. If you see any, please call 911 or CDE Lightband at 931.648.8151. All crews are dispatched and we have called in contractors for additional help with restoration.
— CDE Lightband (@CDELightband) June 17, 2022
Middle Tennessee Electric said it had restored power to about 10,000 customers since the storm and was working on another 1,700 reported outages.
The National Weather Service in Nashville had warned surrounding areas that severe thunderstorm warnings were in effect because of the weather. A wind gust of 63 miles per hour was reported in Clarksville which likely contributed to downed lines, local station WZTV reported.
Over in Kentucky, Appalachian Power said 95% of customers had their power restored. Roughly 3,000 remain in the dark. Meanwhile, nearly 18,000 in the Louisville area were without power, according to Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities.
Earlier in the week, thousands were left without power in southeast Nashville. According to The Tennessean, more than 2,000 people were in the dark Wednesday afternoon. Just a day before, customers in the same area lost power shortly after 5 p.m. NES, which services the area, said Tuesday's power outage was due to equipment failure, according to the newspaper.
