Photo: Brett Carlsen / Getty Images News / Getty Images
It has been more than a week since the big winter storm hit and thousands of homes and businesses are still without power in the Nashville area. Nashville Electric Service says outages dropped below 30,000 Sunday night for the first time in a week, after about 4,000 customers were restored Sunday afternoon.
Mayor Freddie O'Connell says the response -- and especially communication -- has fallen short, telling NES leaders the city and residents deserved clearer guidance sooner.
Governor Bill Lee is also pressing NES for faster restoration, clearer communication, and a full accounting of deployed crews, while U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn is demanding answers on why additional help was reportedly refused and whether customers will be reimbursed for storm-related costs.
NES has now released estimated "power-on" dates by ZIP code, but city leaders say the pace is still unacceptable and plan to meet with NES leadership to push for faster results.
More than 230,000 customers were without power at the peak of the storm.