Fear and Anger Grow as Thousands Remain Without Power in the South

More than 30 people have died across three Southern states in connection with last week’s storm, and thousands remain without power.

The flurries, for a brief time, fell again on Sunday.

The snow landed on piles of jagged branches and sawed stumps, tangled power lines and the tens of thousands of people who have now gone a week without power or heat after a widespread ice storm knocked out power lines across the region.

By Sunday, the weeklong paralysis from the storm across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana had given way to weariness, anger and fear about how much longer thousands would be struggling to stay warm and fed without power. At least three dozen people have died across the three states in connection with the storm, officials have said.

Hurricanes and tornadoes, particularly in the South, often cause prolonged power outages, and residents are accustomed to going days without electricity. But it is rare to experience a loss of power during a sustained stretch of ice and freezing temperatures, with cold so fierce that it has left hundreds of workers struggling to navigate icy roads as they try to fix the electrical system.

Anger was continuing to boil over toward the leadership of the Nashville Electric Service. The utility has struggled for days not only to restore power across the city and surrounding county, but also to accurately communicate to customers the scope of the repairs and the timeline needed to complete them.

Nashville accounts for a majority of the power outages in Tennessee, with about 33,000 customers still without power as of early Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, the agency acknowledged that it may take at least another week for some neighborhoods to return to full power, with at least one ZIP code predicted not to see full service restored until Feb. 11.

“Nashvillians are justifiably angry,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell of Nashville, a Democrat, said in a statement. “It is critical to the life, safety and well-being of our residents that N.E.S. use every tool at their disposal to increase the pace, improve communication and get Nashvillians’ power back on.”

On Monday, the mayor announced that he would establish a commission to examine both the city’s and the utility company’s preparation and response to the storm, saying that it would hold hearings and be able to seek help from the city auditor.

In a separate statement, Mr. O’Connell said that the utility company had been “unequipped to communicate about a crisis” and had failed to quickly communicate information to the mayor’s office about the extent of damage and the repair timeline, which he said would have changed the city’s guidance to the public in the early days of the storm.

At grocery stores and restaurants, as residents tried to replace spoiled groceries or secure a hot meal, strangers asked one another about how they were faring and if they needed help. Organizations, community groups and neighbors were spending another weekend trying to feed and house the most vulnerable across the region. Friends were opening their basements and spare rooms, while some families decamped for homes out of state.

“Everyone has been touched by this,” said Terry Vo, a Nashville councilwoman who lost power for four days and spent Sunday coordinating the distribution of free tacos in her district. “Everyone has felt what it is like to be without, and have no control.”

“A lot of people are on their wit’s end,” she added.

Even among those who had their power restored, there were still scars from the days of uncertainty.

“We’ve just never been out completely,” said Monique Turner, 44, wiping away tears as she spoke about trying to keep her family together as they bounced from house to house to avoid the cold. She added that she remained frustrated and tired, especially when confronted with how to replace the loss of hundreds of dollars of food in her home.

There were also fears that the prolonged cold would continue to affect the state’s most vulnerable residents. Dozens of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have been reported to the Tennessee Poison Center hotline as some residents turn to alternative power sources like generators. And for residents who may have to bear the brunt of repairing home electric meters or damaged cars and property, the expenses are mounting.

In northeast Louisiana, where poverty rates are already higher than the rest of the state, applications for assistance have grown to more than 7,100 in a span of 24 hours, the United Way of Northeast Louisiana said.

“It’s just the beginning for some people — they’re already in the hole,” Kim Lowery, the president and chief executive of the United Way of Northeast Louisiana, said in an interview. “They’re behind on the rent. They’re behind on the utilities. They have to replace all the food they lost.”

“It hurts my heart so much what we’re seeing,” Ms. Lowery added. Her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren were on their eighth day without power and were now staying in Ms. Lowery’s home, she said.

Gov. Tate Reeves, Republican of Mississippi, said that he had extended the deployment of nearly 700 National Guard troops for another week, and that 1,200 residents were in nearly 90 warming shelters and centers across the state. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also dispatched employees and trailer loads of food, water, blankets and other medical supplies to the state.

It is not yet clear whether the agency will provide individual assistance, or support for the states.

In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, asked President Trump to approve an expedited disaster declaration for the state to unlock additional federal aid. He is among the lawmakers in Tennessee who voiced frustration with the Nashville Electric Service for its response to the storm, which the service said was the largest outage in its history.

“It has been a devastating week,” Teresa Broyles-Aplin, the president and chief executive of the Nashville Electric Service, said in a video shared on social media. She added, “We will not stop until we have restored power to every customer.”

Mayor O’Connell, who initially shied away from criticizing the agency in the early days of the response, on Saturday called the time frame “unacceptable” and demanded a meeting on Sunday with leaders.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, was more blunt in her own statement: “Whoever is responsible for this breakdown should be fired.”

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