Record Snowstorm Leaves at Least 14 Dead in Tennessee
Winter storms have walloped much of the country this week, but nowhere was the chilly temps and snow more deadly than in Tennessee.
Reuters/Alyssa Pointer
Tennessee authorities said Thursday that least 14 people died this week from a record-breaking snow storm in the state, which caused widespread power outages and dangerous road conditions from Memphis to the North Carolina border.
Officials did not reveal the cause of death for each victim, but at least one fatality—a man from Florida—was killed after the rental truck he was driving slid in the accumulated snow and rear-ended a tractor-trailer, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported, citing police.
Five of the deaths came in Shelby County, home to Memphis, and two occurred in Washington County, in the state’s northeast, authorities revealed. There was one death each in seven other counties.
The storm dropped more than 9 inches of snow between Sunday and Thursday in parts of Nashville, which is more than double the annual snowfall in those areas. Temperatures plunged below zero in much of the state, which the Tennessee Valley Authority said created the largest power demand in its history.
The dangerously-cold weather and snow that’s accompanied it has wreaked havoc on much of America’s north this week, from coast to coast, just a week after separate winter storms killed three people.
Three people were killed in western New York, officials revealed Wednesday, despite the region being among the most well-equipped for heavy snow in the nation. Five women were killed in northeast Pennsylvania when a tractor-trailer on Interstate 81 plowed into them after they’d exited their vehicle from a separate crash on the icy roads.
In Portland, Oregon, three people were killed Wednesday when a power line fell on a parked car in the city’s northeast—an incident that’s attributed to the nasty weather there, which is only expected to worsen before the weekend.
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In total, authorities have reported more than two dozen deaths around the country that are attributed to this week’s storms, with Tennessee bearing the brunt of the fatalities.
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