Mayor Freddie O'Connell stood alongside Nashville leaders at a press conference Friday, debriefing the city and preparing for an additional cold-weather event that is expected this weekend.
Per Nashville Electric Service, 71,500 homes and businesses remain without power, with more than 500 broken poles across the city. This is day six without power for some customers.
O'Connell said Friday that the mayor's office will determine after the crisis has ended how effective NES' response to the winter storm has been.
"We have been frustrated with their response," O'Connell said.
"I am not satisfied and continue to expect them to do better. We are in close contact with them to share data and talk about performance and do all of those things."
There has been no clear date for when the remainder of the NES customers will have full power restoration. Though some Metro schools have had power outages, the school board is discussing reopening the district early next week.
The city is also working around the clock with tree and debris removal, and setting up shelters for those displaced as well as the unhoused community.
"So many teams are working 24/7," O'Connell said. "I just want to be clear. Nashville, we have added resources every day that you can come out of the period safe."
Four warming shelters are open across the city, with the newest recently opening in Bellevue. The city is expected to dip below freezing for more than 60 hours this weekend and into next week.
A light dusting of snow is expected for the Middle Tennessee area, according to the National Weather Service.
For the first time since Sunday, the mayor’s office and the electricity provider held separate press conferences
"We have Red Cross helping run the shelters," Office of Emergency Management Chief Will Swann said Friday.
"You have Nashville Fire and police officers," he said. "No one will be turned away. We have the space and capacity. We have one at the fairgrounds and opened another at Bellevue Community Center. We got the space. We will be there until this is over."
Those who need rides to one of the four shelters can call 615-401-1712.
"We don't want anyone to feel there is no hope," Swann said. "Will we hear of individuals needing help. If it's an emergency, call 911. For anyone that needs help, please reach out."
Swann said his office is open to any and all assistance, including from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
NES Updates Residents in Madison
NES' Brandon Whitlock and Teresa Broyles-Aplin
Later Friday afternoon, NES held its own press conference separate from the mayor’s daily briefing — this time on location at a power restoration in Madison. Frustrations about the unknown timeline for restoring power to the tens of thousands of Nashvillians without electricity remained the dominant topic while NES officials continued to stress the unprecedented nature of the storm.
NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin shared that 69,000 customers are still without power and announced that a new tool for more accurate outage tracking would be released Friday evening. She resisted providing a clear window for when power would be fully restored despite persistent questions from reporters. When asked if power would be restored within two weeks, Broyles-Aplin said she believed so, but “would like to refine that for customers.”
Reporters also asked about the number of contractors and lineman at work repairing the grid and sought clarity on why more linemen and electrical workers hadn’t yet been dispatched. According to Broyles-Aplin, 1,100 linemen and 332 vegetation management crews are currently at work and NES expects 1,700 personnel in the field Saturday morning.
Brandon Whitlock, who works in operations at NES, stressed to reporters that thick ice, roadblocks and falling trees have hindered progress, and that safety concerns about working with high-voltage systems necessitate a methodical approach for dispatching workers — for the safety of both crews and the public. Whitlock said the systems can handle only so many workers at a time and that certain professionals are needed at different points of the restoration process. He compared it to building a house, and how the frame must be built before the cabinet makers can be sent in.
Whitlock also clarified that buildings in the same neighborhoods may be on separate circuits, which is why power doesn’t return to all the residents on a street or a block at once. However, because some circuits and stations may provide power to larger numbers of customers, NES might prioritize those outages over smaller clusters. (Some Nashvillians have speculated online that certain neighborhoods are being prioritized by class or ethnic makeup, which officials have disputed.)
Terry Miles has lived in the neighborhood for 59 years and also asked questions of NES officials during the press conference.
“This is the coldest and the worst I've ever been in my damn life,” he told reporters afterward, sharing that he’s had to resort to running his fish fryer to keep the house warm.
NES' Brandon Whitlock
Alongside reporters, District 9 Councilmember Tonya Hancock, who represents Madison, also attended and asked questions about a malfunctioning utility pole in the neighborhood.
“On Sunday at 2 p.m. we had a pole catch on fire … on the corner of Hudson and Pawnee,” Hancock told the Scene. “And my constituents called 911. The fire department came. They inspected it as they're supposed to do. Because it's an electrical fire, they reported it to NES, and NES was supposed to come and repair it.”
But the pole continues to catch fire, says Hancock, and her constituents call the fire department “day after day after day, including today.”
Broyles-Aplin, during the conference, said this was not standard practice, adding that NES would send someone to look at the pole.
Hancock also told the Scene that she appreciates NES’ emphasis on safety but also acknowledged it’s hard for people without heat or appliances like fireplaces or gas heating.
When asked about the mayor’s frustration, Broyles-Aplin acknowledged it’s been “a struggle” to get data out to customers.
Information about NES' press conference in Madison was added after the original publication of this article.
