Tens of thousands remain without power across Tennessee

175,000 Tennessee customers remained without power on Tuesday, Jan. 27, according to poweroutage.com.

Road conditions in Chattanooga remained clear of ice on Tuesday, but in surrounding mountain communities, roads remained icy with the frigid temperatures.

More than 120,000 power outages remained in Nashville and neighboring communities Tuesday. Nashville Electric Service said in a social media post it had dispatched more than 740 workers to restore power. It did not say how long repairs might take.

Nashville officials said nearly 440 people spent Monday night at community centers used as temporary shelters. 1,400 residents stayed at area homeless shelters. Others booked rooms at local hotels.

Statewide only three deaths reported were in the western part of the state, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.

Lisa Patterson had planned to ride out the deep freeze at her family’s Nashville home. She and her husband lost power, trees fell onto their driveway, and their wood stove proved no match for the cold. Along with their dog, the couple had to be rescued and taken to a warming shelter.

“I’ve been snowed in up there for almost three weeks without being able to get up and down my driveway because of the snow. I’m prepared for that. But this was unprecedented,” Patterson said.

Roughly half a million Americans were still without power or heat, and temperatures were forecast to fall well below freezing Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning in areas where the massive ice storm did its worst damage.

Temperatures are expected to dip to 14 degrees Fahrenheit in metro Nashville by early Wednesday morning. There are 47 places in Nashville where people without power can go to warm up and charge their phones, including fire and police stations.

For the rest of the week, temperatures will remain below freezing for daytime highs around Memphis while in the Tennessee Valley, daytime temperatures will hover around 40 degrees helping melt more ice and snow. Nashville will see daytime highs just above 32 degrees.