Frustration builds as ice storm response drags on
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Ice damage in East Nashville. Photo: Kate Dearman/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Patience is wearing thin as the fallout from the record-breaking ice storm stretches on.
The big picture: Mayor Freddie O'Connell and the Nashville Electric Service acknowledged the frustration facing tens of thousands of residents still without electricity days after the storm slammed the power grid.
- "We've reached the stage of recovery where … asking for patience gets hard," O'Connell said during a Wednesday briefing.
- "I know every moment [the power] is not on — including overnight — it is anywhere from frustrating to scary for too many of us."
State of play: While NES has restored power to more than 100,000 customers so far, another 100,000 remained without power Wednesday.
- Progressive activists seized on the unprecedented outage to criticize Nashville's long-term infrastructure investments. Other critics accused NES of failing to add staff quickly enough.
By the numbers: NES said it was still ramping up its efforts. So far, the utility has more than 900 linemen from multiple states in the field. Another team of 215 is working to clear downed trees and other debris.
Between the lines: City and union leaders said reports that NES had turned away unionized out-of-state line workers were false.
What he's saying: O'Connell stressed that the city was facing a "once in a generation" storm that had slammed the city with the most ice it had seen since 1994.
- "We know how hard this is," O'Connell said. "We are working tirelessly. We are going to continue to do that."
Zoom out: Gov. Bill Lee issued an executive order this week allowing state personnel to help clear local roads as recovery pushes deeper into neighborhoods.
The latest: Police chief John Drake said the city had linked a third death to the winter storm. That case involved a man who may have suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.
- The other two deaths included a woman who fell in an assisted living facility and another who fell outside.