Committee hears multi-agency storm-restoration updates: water-main breaks, NES restoration, and resources for medically fragile residents

The Transportation & Infrastructure Committee received multi-agency briefings on restoration work after a major storm that left tens of thousands without power and caused numerous water-main breaks.

Metro Water Services Director Scott Potter described the main-break response sequence: residents report outages to (615) 862-4600; an investigator is dispatched; crews are planned; and staff must place a call to 811 so other utilities can mark underground infrastructure (a required two‑hour waiting period) before excavation and repair. Potter said many recent breaks are on brittle cast-iron mains and that crews commonly use repair bands to stop circumferential breaks, disinfect with a strong chlorine solution, collect laboratory water-quality samples and return the main to service only after testing.

Potter reported more than 75 main breaks in the prior five days (he did not have a later morning update) and said both water plants and all pump stations were operating normally except where service isolation was required for repairs. He also said average daily flow the previous day was about 130,000,000 gallons — roughly 30,000,000 gallons above a typical baseline — and advised residents they generally do not need to 'drip' faucets unless a prolonged cold snap recurs.

An NES representative (CEO, name not provided in the record) told the committee about electric restoration progress: about 95% of NES customers had power at the time of the briefing and the peak outage area had shrunk from an estimated 294 square miles at the event's height to about 32 square miles. NES said initial assessments identified roughly 732 broken poles and that crews are actively replacing about 435 remaining broken poles; more than 1,700 linemen plus contract personnel are working restoration in rotating shifts. NES emphasized safety for crews and noted it is prioritizing hospitals, critical water/sewer facilities, and emergency services; the utility said it had suspended late fees and disconnections during the event.

Council members asked operational questions. NES described how it converted some crews to smaller teams to address 'onesie, twosie' single-house outages and described processes for reconnecting customers who have repaired meter boxes or weatherheads. On reporting live wires, NES said crews are dedicated to those responses but need precise location details (pole numbers or descriptive placement) to dispatch safely.

Several council members raised the needs of medically fragile residents. NES said there is a formal critical-referral or critical-care enrollment that requires a physician-signed form to place someone on a prioritized list; NES directed callers to (615) 862-4600 and to nashvilleresponds.com for assistance. OEM (Heidi Mariscal) advised that non‑life‑threatening issues for people on life‑support devices should use the nonemergency line (862-8530) and that life‑threatening situations require 911 so EMS can coordinate with NES.

Committee members also questioned MyOutage Tracker functionality after some customers reported the tracker showed power when they did not have service; NES acknowledged the tracker was developed rapidly and may have glitches, said staff are re-pinging meters and conducting second assessments, and described a manual follow-up process including door tags and direct contact when the system shows inconsistencies.

What happens next: Departments will continue restoration work around the clock; NES and Metro Water will provide follow-up materials and links (NES pointed to a project page and the MyOutage Tracker; NDOT said supporting studies are posted on nashville.gov). The committee scheduled a special meeting for Feb. 10 for further questions about incident response and asked departments to provide more details on single-house workflows and resources for vulnerable residents.