JACKSON, Miss. — Hundreds of National Guard troops in ice-stricken Mississippi and Tennessee mobilized Thursday to clear debris and assist people stranded in cars or stuck at homes still without electricity as the Southern states raced to recover from a crippling winter storm before another blast of dangerous cold hits Friday.
The National Weather Service said arctic air moving into the Southeast will cause already frigid temperatures to plunge into the teens Friday night in cities like Nashville, where more than 85,000 homes and businesses still had no power five days after a massive storm dumped snow and ice across the eastern U.S.
At least 80 people have died in areas afflicted with bitter cold from Texas to New Jersey. Nearly half the deaths were reported in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The extended deep freeze has left some people increasingly desperate in a region unaccustomed to and ill-equipped for such cold. Emergency dispatchers in Mississippi were getting calls from people running out of food and medications while stuck at home. In Tennessee, social workers worked with police and firefighters making welfare checks on residents who hadn't been heard from in days.
“No one really knew that it was going to be like this, or how bad,” said CJ Bynum, who was using his Jeep to help drivers stranded along Interstate 55, where 18-wheel trucks still lined the icy highway in northern Mississippi two days after traffic ground to a halt
Harriet Wallace, who works for a Nashville social services agency, said police and firefighters had been visiting homes to check on elderly people whose relatives can’t reach them by phone. She said all of them have been found alive. For those without power who refuse to leave home, officers were helping them charge phones and get groceries.
“They are finding blankets and just sitting there with no TV, no power, nothing,” Wallace said. “Some are a little delirious.”
More than 300,000 U.S. homes and businesses had no electricity Wednesday, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us. The vast majority were in Mississippi and Tennessee, with nearly 100,000 each.
Nashville Electric Service said in a social media post Thursday that it had 963 linemen working on repairs after the storm snapped hundreds of power poles in the Nashville area. A utility vice president, Brent Baker, said Wednesday crews would need the weekend, or longer, before all customers could be restored.
Interstates 55 and 22 were closed in northern Mississippi as emergency crews with tow trucks and snowplows continued to work Thursday toward reopening the major highways.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said 500 National Guard troops were out clearing trees still blocking roads.
The Tennessee National Guard said about 170 soldiers and airmen were aiding with storm recovery. In addition to clearing debris, Guard officials said, troops have assisted more than 200 people stranded in vehicles and homes and given nearly 300 emergency and health care workers rides to work.
Warming centers are open across Mississippi
Mississippi officials say it's the state's worst winter storm since 1994. About 60 warming centers were opened across the state, known as one of the nation's poorest. But for some communities, they weren't enough.
Hal Ferrell, mayor of Batesville, said Wednesday that no one in the city has power and, with roads still slippery with ice, it’s too soon to begin recovery efforts.
“We’re at a real mess and warming centers just don’t exist for 7,500 people,” Ferrell said.
Forecasters say the subfreezing weather will persist in the eastern U.S. into February and there's high chance of heavy snow in the Carolinas, Virginia and northeast Georgia this weekend. Snowfall is also possible along the East Coast from Maryland to Maine.
There was a slight chance of freezing rain Thursday night in some-hard areas of Mississippi and a limited possibility of snow showers in Nashville overnight Friday, according to the National Weather Service. But forecasters said the biggest threat was the dangerous cold, with sub-zero wind chills possible in parts of South deal with widespread power outages.
University of Mississippi to close for a second week
Officials at the University of Mississippi in snow-covered Oxford opted to cancel classes and campus activities for a second week, with plans to to reopen Feb 9.
Though power had been restored to the campus, workers were still removing limbs dangling from trees, university officials said in statement Wednesday night.
Erik Lipsett in Benton County, Mississippi, spent the last several days scooping ice from the front yard so he can melt it to flush down his toilets. The area has been without water and power since the weekend.
On Wednesday morning, he lined up at a nearby gas station to shower and said that propane bottles, canisters and hookups for heaters are hard to come by.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta; Jonathan Mattise and Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report.