MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Loss of power has been a major problem with this big winter storm, especially in parts of the South hit with freezing rain on Sunday. There are still nearly half a million power outages from Texas to Tennessee, and many areas are dealing with really cold temperatures – single-digit lows overnight. Blake Farmer of member station WPLN joins me from Nashville. Hey, Blake.
BLAKE FARMER, BYLINE: Hello.
KELLY: We are – what? – two, three days on now from the storm. Why so many people still without power?
FARMER: Well, it just is so widespread and really unprecedented for the local utility here in Nashville. I mean, half the city had no power at one point. And unlike a hurricane or like a tornado, new power outages are still popping up. Talked to a utility official today who told this story about a crew fixing a line, then they pack up, drive off, and literally in the rear view mirror, they see a branch take out the line that they just fixed.
KELLY: Oh, my God. My heart just sank just listening to you tell me that. How are people you talk to coping?
FARMER: You know, school is out this week, a lot of businesses still closed. And that’s the case across the region – even Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, closed all week. Mississippi dealing with a lot of outages too. Warming shelters have opened throughout the region. Here in Nashville, the city even opened all fire stations and a lot of police precincts as warming shelters and offered rides to people who need to get to a warm place. Ellie Kane (ph) and her husband made it to a community center. They’d decided to leave their home in search of someplace warmer.
ELLIE KANE: You know, there’s a difference between being cold and bone cold and confused and scared. I have health issues. I’m 71. I thought, you know, I’d better find a way out of here.
FARMER: Ellie told our show, This Is Nashville, that she really was afraid she might die if she didn’t get to a warm place.
KELLY: Well, and some people have died. More than 40 fatalities attributed to the storm. That’s per official counts – some hypothermia, some from accidents. What about in Nashville?
FARMER: Yeah. I mean, we do have a couple of fatalities – not always clear how the cold is to blame – but, you know, a 90-year-old here, who police say lost power and fell inside her apartment, another woman who slid down a hill and was found by a passerby. Other states have had people die from hypothermia or fires as they were trying to stay warm, like maybe with a camping heater, but didn’t have good ventilation. And of course, there have been a lot of accidents. I mean, we know it’s a very dangerous situation.
KELLY: Yeah. Well, and per forecasts, it looks like we may never get warm weather again. This is supposed to continue. What are utilities saying is the plan?
FARMER: Well, I mean, they really don’t want to make any projections. I mean, here in Nashville, there’s still more than 100,000 people without power, which often means heat too. Crews have come in from neighboring states to help out. They’re working around the clock, but they’re still mostly working on the easy stuff, you know, where they can reconnect a thousand or 2,000 homes at a time. Once you get down to, like, street by street, home by home, often where power lines have been ripped from the house by a falling tree, it’s just much slower going. We’re going to be talking about power for a while here yet.
KELLY: Dare I ask you, Blake, do you have power?
FARMER: Well, I’m sitting here in my house. It’s 40 degrees.
KELLY: Oof.
FARMER: It’s going to be a while. Just walked back to the house. Some, you know, trees are still resting on the power lines. But we’ve got hot water, I’ve got a gas fireplace, so we’ll be OK.
KELLY: Blake Farmer, host of This Is Nashville at WPLN, thank you.
FARMER: You’re welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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