Thousands without power as storms hit East Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Storms moved into East Tennessee on Saturday, leaving thousands without power across the region.

More than 1,000 Knoxville Utilities Board customers were without power as of 3:00 p.m., according to the outage map. The majority of the outages were reported in Northern Knox County.

By 3:45 p.m., the number of outages jumped to over 4,000 people.

Volunteer Energy Cooperative also reported over 2,000 customers without power. Cumberland County saw the most outages with over 1,105 customers without power, according to their outage maps.

As of 3:15 p.m., over 5,000 customers were without power, with Cumberland County seeing nearly 4,000 customers without power. Within 3 minutes, over 9,000 customers were without power.

By 3:35 p.m., VEC saw over 13,000 people without power.

Morgan County Sheriff’s Office Captain Mike Wren told WVLT News that there were reports of several trees down as well. National Weather Service officials also said that trees were also blocking Chapman Highway near Stone Road.

Seymour Volunteer Fire Department officials reported that Burnette Station was closed between Black Oakridge and PIckens Gap due to fallen trees. West Macon was also closed.

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