Security camera footage showing the Dec. 9, 2023, tornado's direct hit on an NES substation
Key substations near Madison and Hendersonville are damaged but operational after taking direct hits from tornadoes on Saturday, according to the Nashville Electric Service. Both developments have helped slash power outages since Saturday evening. More than 3,700 people are still without power as of Monday at 3 p.m.
"Both are partially back up," says Andrea Lindsley of FINN Partners, a firm retained by NES, which does not have a dedicated public information officer. "Both have damaged sections that will require much more work, but they are both back up delivering power."
Deaths include three residents of a small Madison mobile home park
The city first reported around 45,000 people without power after tornadoes ripped through Middle Tennessee early Saturday evening. Out-of-state contractors joined NES work crews over the past two days in hard-hit, densely populated areas like Madison and Hendersonville.
“We’re still waiting on damaged high-voltage transmission lines over by Saundersville,” a crew member in Hendersonville, where another substation took damage, tells the Scene. “TVA has to bring in their people to fix that, so we could be waiting a while.”
The same crew member, who did not want to be identified by name, estimates that the city was facing more than 150 downed utility poles. A map released by NES shows dozens of downed poles concentrated in Madison and Hendersonville.
A map released by NES showing dozens of downed poles in Madison and Hendersonville
Power restoration has been a point of pride for the city amid a mixed response to Saturday’s devastating tornadoes. Local nonprofits and advocates have pointed out prominent English-only disaster resources. In a press release issued Monday afternoon, Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office sent reporters a resource video with Spanish subtitles.
As late as Sunday evening, parents publicly questioned a lack of response from Metro Nashville Public Schools, which hosts state testing this week. Tornadoes on Saturday killed six people in Middle Tennessee, including three people in Madison.
