Restoring Power Could Take Days After Tennessee Storm Leaves 240,000 In The Dark

More than 100,000 households across Middle Tennessee were still without power late Monday after a strong storm delivered winds over 60 mph the day before.

At the peak outage, more than 240,000 were powerless in the region. Nashville Electric Service called it one of its largest outages on record, taking out more than twice as many customers as the March 3 tornado.

Power could be out for a week or more for some, said Decosta Jenkins, CEO of NES.

“We realize this is unfortunate timing,” he said Monday morning.

Dickson Electric called it the worst hit since a 1994 ice storm, and also said it could take weeks to recover.

Injuries have not been widely reported, but a storm-related incident killed an off-duty Spring Hill firefighter at his home. Authorities say 34-year-old Mitchell Earwood worked as a Spring Hill firefighter for 10 years.

Severe straight-line wind gusts downed trees and power poles in multiple counties, damaged barns, and partially ripped the roofs off several commercial buildings in Shelbyville. Winds threw trampolines like Frisbees and blew materials from downtown Nashville construction sites.

Submitted Rutherford County Government

The Kittrell Volunteer Fire Department in Rutherford County was damaged by winds Sunday night in Tennessee.

Metro’s Office of Emergency Management said more than 80 trees fell across Nashville, and that they damaged some structures and caused some injuries, but more details were not immediately available.

The electric service said it had 51 broken power poles.

In Rutherford County, authorities say crews handled 59 calls, mostly for downed trees and lines but also one water rescue to help several kayakers near the Mona Boat Ramp in Murfreesboro.

More: The National Weather Service is collecting images of damage from social media with the hashtag #tspotter

Nashville International Airport also measured the fifth-strongest gust on record at 72 mph.

In a video online, the president of Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation said extra contract crews were brought in to restore power to Williamson, Wilson and Rutherford counties.

“It has been a difficult night across our service territory,” said Chris Jones. “The storm wreaked considerable havoc. It did widespread damage across every county that we serve.”