MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — This week’s unusually cold temperatures are putting a strain on Tennessee’s power grid causing scattered outages.
The strain is bad enough in the Chattanooga and Cleveland areas that the Tennessee Valley Authority this morning asked local power companies there to lower their power usage.
The mid-state’s power grid is also showing the strain. Middle Tennessee Electric and Nashville Electric are reporting just under 600 scattered outages. Josh Clendenen is a spokesman for Middle Tennessee Electric.
“Not very long outages, but their numerous. We had a pretty big one in Williamson County last night and a lot of them are weather related.”
Clendenen says the single digit temperatures are also hard on crews working to repair the outages, but that lineman are trained for the cold.
“To not only recognize the symptoms of things like frostbite and hypothermia in themselves, but also in their crew members, so they’re constantly watching each other.”
The strain on Tennessee’s power grid, and crews, should be greatly reduced by week’s end. Temperatures are expected to moderate beginning tomorrow. The Weather Service says daytime highs in Middle Tennessee should be back in the 50s by Friday.