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For more than a week, many residents across Nashville, Tennessee, have been living without electricity, heat, or running water following a severe winter ice storm that swept through the city late last month. A Nashville woman who documented the situation in a TikTok video said the damage has left some families trapped in unsafe living conditions, with burst pipes flooding homes and apartment complexes in multiple neighborhoods.
According to the woman, the lack of power has made it nearly impossible for residents to remove standing water from their properties, a requirement many insurance companies reportedly use to determine whether flood damage will be covered. She said insurers are denying claims because water was not removed within a 12- to 24-hour window, even though many residents have been without electricity for days and cannot operate pumps or other equipment needed to clear the water.
“They’re not gonna support, they’re not gonna help the families because they’re not meeting a certain criteria when that criteria is impossible because of a natural disaster,” she said. The woman also alleged that Nashville Electric Service has told some residents it cannot restore power until privately owned electrical equipment on properties is repaired by licensed electricians.
Concerns Over Emergency Response and Outside Assistance
The woman further raised concerns about access to emergency shelters, claiming that information about available shelters has largely been shared through phones and television broadcasts. She argued that residents without power or working devices may not be receiving those updates and would remain unaware that help is available.
In her video, she also alleged that offers of outside assistance had been turned away by the city’s mayor, Freddie O’Connell. She claimed that electricians from other counties and the National Guard were prepared to assist with repairs and welfare checks, but were not allowed to proceed. “Why would you not want to check in on the people in your city and make sure that they are okay?” she asked. “That they aren’t dying from carbon monoxide poisoning, that they aren’t dying from freezing?”
Footage shared in the video showed extensive storm damage across multiple neighborhoods in 12 South, including large trees split, uprooted, or collapsed onto homes, fences, utility lines, and sidewalks. “This is just one area of Nashville,” the woman said. “It is like this everywhere all over Nashville and all of the surrounding neighborhoods. And we need help.”
According to the woman, utility officials have said they hope to restore power to many customers by February 9, though she noted this was not a guarantee.
How Netizens Are Reacting to the Conditions in Nashville
In the comments section under the TikTok post, some viewers blamed federal leadership, with one writing that people should “thank Trump for this” and that shifting FEMA recovery responsibilities to states was “a recipe for disaster.”
Others alleged that financial considerations played a role in decisions to turn away support. One person wrote that Nashville refused help from other states because officials “didn’t want to pay utility companies union wages,” while another accused local leadership of being influenced by corporate interests, stating, “THIS IS WHY WE DON’T ELECT POLITICIANS BOUGHT BY CORPORATIONS!”
Insurance companies were also a major focus of criticism. One commenter called insurance “the biggest scam ever,” claiming providers “can’t do anything. Ever.” Another argued that the situation clearly qualifies as a state of emergency and predicted that insurers would eventually be “sued and forced to compensate” affected families.
