Tennessee latest to feel winter storm’s effects

14 deaths blamed on snow, cold temperature

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A new layer of ice formed over parts of Tennessee on Thursday after a deadly storm blanketed the state in snow and sent temperatures plummeting earlier this week — part of a broader bout of bitter cold sweeping the country from the Pacific Northwest to the Northeast.

Authorities said at least 14 deaths in Tennessee alone are blamed on the system, which dumped more than 9 inches of snow since Sunday on parts of Nashville, a city that rarely sees such accumulations. Temperatures also plunged below zero in parts of the state, creating the largest power demand ever across the seven states served by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Thursday’s freezing rain compounded problems, adding a thin glaze of ice in some areas ahead of another expected plunge in temperatures over the weekend. Many schools and government offices have closed, and the state Legislature also shut down, canceling in-person meetings all week.

More than 40 deaths nationwide have been attributed to the frigid weather in the past week.

Across the country in Washington state, five people died from hypothermia over a four-day span that saw temperatures plummet to well below freezing in Seattle, the King County Medical Examiner’s office said.

Three of those who died between Jan. 11 and Jan. 15 were presumed homeless, said Kate Cole, a spokesperson for Public Health — Seattle and King County, in an email. One other person was temporarily housed, and one lived in a private residence.

And in western New York, the icy weather was blamed for three deaths in three days. Then on Thursday, an American Airlines plane slid off a snowy taxiway in Rochester, New York, after a flight from Philadelphia. No injuries were reported.

Five people were struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 81 in northeastern Pennsylvania after they left their vehicles following a separate crash on slick pavement.

In Kansas, authorities were investigating the death of an 18-year-old whose body was found Wednesday in a ditch not far from where his vehicle had become stuck in snow.

And in Mississippi, where officials reported five winter weather-related deaths, an estimated 12,000 customers in the capital city of Jackson were dealing with low water pressure Thursday. It was the latest setback for the city’s long-troubled water system.