Over 185,000 Americans In The South Remain Without Power After Ice Storm

Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times,

Over 185,000 Americans were without power nearly one week after a deadly winter storm swept through two-thirds of the country.

States that faced ongoing power outages included Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas.

The northern part of Mississippi had the most outages with nearly 80,000 utility customers in the dark as of 5 p.m. ET.

Officials at the North East Mississippi Electric Power Association said they weren’t sure when the lights would be back.

“I’m not quite prepared to give a real good estimate of when you might get power,” General Manager Keith Hayward said in a Jan. 29 video posted on X.

Tennessee experienced the second largest number of outages in the United States. The majority of affected customers resided in the heart of Nashville.

Davidson County, which covers a section of Nashville, had over 60,000 people without power as of 5 p.m ET, which is 85 percent of the outages reported in the state.

Nashville Electric Service said that the ice storm was worse than they expected and added that the provider has never had to deal with damage from a system like Winter Storm Fern.

“When we look at the trees that have exploded, when we drive around the community and are still working to get this restoration done, we have to see how severe this was,” said Brent Baker, Nashville Electric Service chief operations officer during a press conference on Jan. 29.

The delays restoring power have caused multiple groups and agencies to step up and help residents impacted.

Soldiers with the Tennessee Army National Guard’s 212th Engineer Company were called out to the streets of Nashville to remove debris and assist with road clearance on Friday.

Churches in the area started booking hotel rooms for people without power.

Trees are coated with ice as over 200,000 people in the Nashville area woke up without power on Jan. 25, 2026. Jacki Thrapp/The Epoch Times

Louisiana had over 32,000 outages by 5 p.m. ET.

“I have been in Washington, D.C., working side by side with [federal and local officials] to secure the resources and support Louisiana needs,” Gov. Jeff Landry (R-La.) wrote in an X post on Jan. 30.

“With more severe winter weather hitting our state, I am cutting my trip short and heading home now to continue leading our response efforts on the ground. Please remember to stay safe and stay warm!”

The National Weather Service is predicting a widespread storm will slam the East again this weekend.

“A rapidly deepening storm centered just off the North Carolina coast Friday night through Saturday night will produce widespread heavy snow and wind from the southern Appalachians across the Carolinas and southern Virginia,” the agency posted on X Jan. 29.