NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After a line of strong storms came through Middle Tennessee on Sunday night, 130,000 Nashville Electric Service customers were without power.
On Monday NES said the outage was so widespread, it may take up to one or two weeks to fully restore the power to all customers.
Straight line winds as high as 60-80 miles per hour knocked down trees, power lines and power poles, causing one of the largest power outages on record for NES. The wind gusts were near the strength of a Category 1 Hurricane, recording the fifth strongest wind gust ever at the Nashville International Airport.
In comparison, when the tornado hit Davidson County on March 3, nearly 50,000 NES customers were without power, some for several days. During the historic flood in May 2010, 90,000 people were without power.
Crews worked through the night to assess damage and restore power to about 30,000 customers. But as residents woke up on Monday morning, there were still 100,000 without power.
NES said additional crews will arrive in Nashville to help, but the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some challenges in bringing in crews from certain states. A second round of storms expected to hit the area on Monday night will also add to the delay.
The power outage has affected some grocery stores in the area. Kroger officials said on Monday, there were still six stores without power. The grocer got refrigerated trucks to try to protect perishable products, but there was some loss at the stores in the area.
