It’s past the point where you can just stick it out in the cold. Indoor temperatures are in the 30s for tens of thousands of Nashvillians who haven’t had heat for days. Hotels are booked. Restaurants closed. Just getting a hot meal has been tough.
The Tennessee ice storm has caused record power outages, downed thousands of trees and claimed eight lives.
But acts of kindness are holding people together as a slow recovery progresses.
Hot food
In the parking lot of the Germantown Kroger, Melissa Bruner props open the awning of a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog’s food truck. She drove three hours from Madisonville, Ky., on ice-covered roads to provide free hot meals to more than 100 people who have been standing out in the cold for over an hour.
Justin Barney Mellissa Bruner hands out free hot meals in the Germantown Kroger parking lot
“I just can’t imagine being in this position, cold and hungry with no place to go,” she says.
Seconds later she’s on the phone with someone in Washington D.C. who works with World Central Kitchen, the famous nonprofit food organization founded by Chef José Andrés.
They’ve been mercenaries in places like Gaza and Sudan. Today they are working in Nashville.
By the time she can open, a group has been waiting over an hour to get a hot meal. They don’t even know what will be served.
“Whatever it is, we’ll be grateful,” Miriam Mendoza says. She’s at the front of the line, waiting with three of her daughters. They are all staying in a nearby shelter and say they haven’t had a decent meal since the ice rolled in.
“It’s a blessing,” she says as Bruner opens the stand and hands her a hot chicken wrap. “This is really a blessing.”
Taking others in
With few places to go, many Nashvillans are either taking people in or they are being taken in by friends and family. Inside Kroger, both are stocking up.
A tree fell on Jake Thibodeau’s house.
“They’re just falling over, and I’m talking about 100-year-old trees, ripping from the ground, root ball and everything, not just branches breaking off,” he says. A friend saw the damage and offered him, his wife, their three kids and dogs a place to stay.
E.A. Cox was in the frozen foods section with her son, getting pizza for her dad that she took in.
“He was coming and planning on just hanging out the first day. And I was like, ‘No you’re spending the night here.’ ”
Though her son wasn’t so thrilled about it. “When I asked him how it’s been to have his grandpa in the house he raised his eyebrows and simply said, “A lot.’ ”
Small acts of kindness
Even small acts of kindness are going a long way.
Over in North Nashville, Marcellus Bostack was walking with a cane on the icy pavement in front of EZ Mart. The storm reminded him of when he spent eight days without electricity in the Nashville ice storm of 1994.
Although he has heat, his 90-year-old uncle was left without. Bostack was making the trek, cane and all, just to bring him a hot cup of coffee.
Digging in
In a briefing Wednesday, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell acknowledged the weariness across the city.
“We’ve reached the stage of recovery where asking for patience is hard,” he said. “Every moment that [power] is not on, including overnight, it is frustrating to scary.”
NES has replaced 300 damaged poles and have over 900 lineworkers on the job. But it’s still slow moving. The National Guard has been removing debris and helping utility crews. Yet, more than 100,000 customers were about to go into their fifth day with no heat.
The newly growing concern is likely to be the water mains. Metro Water Services was working to repair about nine water main breaks on Wednesday, and evaluating about a dozen other potential breaks.
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