Storm Stretched Metro, But Nashville Should Be Mostly Back To Normal Monday

The latest storm update from Metro Nashville agencies shows how a week of tough winter weather pushed city workers into lengthy shifts and agencies to operate around the clock. Car crashes brought down power poles and destroyed fire hydrants, water mains broke, traffic and rail crossing signals malfunctioned and animal control officers responded 126 stray animals and pets out in the cold.

But after the weeklong slog, Metro government agencies are mostly resuming normal services Monday, including COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts. Courts and many city offices will be accessible again, although officials are urging residents to call ahead and continue using virtual services when possible.

Metro is not continuing its cold shelter on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, Nashville’s trash and recycling collections will also resume after skipping a full week. Residents should expect pickups on their standard days of the week. As for monthly curbside recycling, Public Works says it intends to pick up both last week’s and this week’s customers. Residents should put items out on their standard days but allow up to 3 days before reporting a missed pickup.

♻️ THREAD: Beginning Monday, February 22, MPW will pick up both 3rd week & 4th week recycling, so if your recycling collection day is normally the 3rd Monday, please set it out on Monday, February 22. and leave it on the curb until it is picked up. pic.twitter.com/JpXt2ZZomw

— Nashville Department of Transportation (@NashvilleDOT) February 19, 2021

The WeGo transit service says it expects full service Monday with some routes still using snow detours. There were six routes that did not operate Sunday.

Cold stretched Metro’s shelter

The bitter cold — compounded by travel difficulties — also pushed Metro’s cold overflow shelter to its brink. While it normally opens overnight only, the city says a “barebones” staff pulled double shifts to keep the shelter open for six full days, plus four additional nights. A team of just 14 ran five shelters — which includes COVID response facilities.

In all, the city provided 1,484 shelter bed night, or an average of 148 per night.

The Office of Emergency Management says Nashville’s first responders reported a 6% uptick in emergency calls during the storm.

Firefighters and paramedics helped at 107 car crashes, including transporting 82 patients. Metro Water Services was called to repair 30 water main breaks. And Nashville Electric Service reported 8,953 customer outages, or about 2% of its service.