NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Emergency workers on Tuesday attempted to repair local power distribution equipment damaged by remnants of Hurricane Katrina that left thousands of customers across the state without electricity, officials said.
Katrina was at tropical force strength more than 320 miles north of the Gulf Coast when it entered Tennessee overnight, dousing the state with heavy rain and high winds.
There was no major damage reported, but the state’s two largest cities had the most power outages.
By Tuesday afternoon, there were still about 70,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County without power, according to Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Gil Francis. In Nashville, there were roughly 4,800 customers without electricity with scattered outages throughout the rest of the state.
“There’s still damage on local distribution systems that get the power out,” Francis said, “so those have to be repaired.”
He didn’t give a timetable but said “crews are hard at work.”
Compared with the devastation Katrina caused in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, Gov. Phil Bredesen said that Tennessee was fortunate. He said he talked with the governors of those states and told them he’s prepared to send personnel, supplies and equipment as needed.
“Yesterday, we prepared for the worst, and it looks like we dodged a bullet here,” the governor said. “However, our hearts go out to the people in those other areas.”
State emergency management officials said parts of Tennessee received more than four inches of rain from the storm. By midday a flash flood warning was lifted for the western third of the state and an inland tropical storm warning for the midsection was downgraded to a wind advisory. East Tennessee remained under a tornado watch until Tuesday night.
In preparation for the worst, dozens of school systems across Middle Tennessee canceled Tuesday classes, including the Davidson County system covering Nashville.
JoAnn Law of Nashville said she was surprised to see little damage on her way to a business meeting Tuesday morning.
“I left early thinking I would run into much difficulty,” the 69-year-old said. “But everything seems fine- no downed trees, just a little bit of wind. It was much less than I expected.”
Other effects of the storm reached Tennessee before the weather, with thousands of evacuating residents seeking lodging across the state and volunteer crews preparing to head south when it is safe to begin relief efforts.
Hotels in Memphis were booked with fleeing residents from Mississippi and Louisiana.
Some evacuees drove as far as Nashville, where the Loew’s Vanderbilt Hotel cut rates in half for guests displaced by Katrina.
Bredesen said he was pleased with the hospitality Tennesseans have shown to refugees from the storm-ravaged states.
“I haven’t experienced anything on the magnitude they have,” he said. “This was a terrible, terrible storm.”
