The Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed 27 weather-related fatalities as of Sunday night. Eight in Shelby County, one in Hickman County, one in Madison County, two in Washington County, one in Carroll County, four in Knox County, one in Van Buren County, one in Lauderdale County, one in Henry County, two in Marshall County, one in Coffee County, one in Marion County, two in Roane County, and one in Anderson County.
The arctic cold of this last week is coming to an end with this week’s forecast including warmer temperatures and rain in all parts of Tennessee through Friday.
Because of the extremely cold temperatures, the demand on power set multiple records for electricity demand this last week. Per TVA, while the demand was unprecedented the grid remained stable.
The State of Emergency declarations that TEMA Director Patrick C. Sheehan issued on behalf of Governor Bill Lee that waives commercial hours of service restrictions for vehicles transporting fuel, livestock, poultry, and feed for the livestock and poultry remains in effect until 3:59 p.m. Jan. 27.
The extreme cold continues to cause damage to drinking water infrastructure across Tennessee, and TEMA and TDEC expect that additional systems will experience problems or detect damages as temperatures thaw this coming week.