NASHVILLE (AP) — At least 14 deaths in Tennessee have been linked to a storm system that blanketed the state in snow and sent temperatures plummeting as bitterly cold weather kept an icy grip Thursday on a swath of the U.S. from Oregon to the Northeast.
Tennessee officials updated the state's death toll at midweek after the storm dropped more than 9 inches (23 centimeters) of snow since Sunday in parts of Nashville, where only about half that amount falls in a given year. Even after the snow tapered off, temperatures plunged below zero (minus-18 Celsius) in parts of the state, creating the largest power demand ever across the seven states served by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Forecasters also warned that a new, thin coating of ice could form Thursday in much of Tennessee, where the storms have forced some schools and government offices to close.
Local officials in Tennessee have begun offering early insights into how the storm turned deadly. Among those killed were a box truck driver who slid into a tractor-trailer on the interstate, a man who fell through a skylight while cleaning off his business's roof, and a man found below a deep bluff at a state park who didn't survive.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol said it also had investigated three fatal car wrecks caused by the storm, more than 100 wrecks involving injuries and more than 200 others in which no one was hurt.
Shelby County, which includes Memphis and is the state's largest county, saw the most deaths, five.
State and local officials have so far largely refused to release many of the details surrounding the deaths, citing privacy concerns for the families involved. This includes declining to share names and circumstances surrounding the deaths. Tennessee's Department of Health also refused to confirm accounts provided by local authorities of deaths likely tied to the 14-death total.
Cory Mueller, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Nashville, noted that another cold spell is expected this weekend, making Monday's rainy, above-freezing outlook the first good chance for significant melting.
"At least in Tennessee, it takes a little bit to get the roads cleared up," Mueller said by phone. "With the cold temperatures, that led to the snow staying on the roads much longer."