NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A man who spent 10 days without power after the recent ice storm finally got help after reaching out to NewsChannel 5.
Alfred, who lives in a mobile home off of Dickerson Pike and relies on a medical bed and oxygen, had been without electricity since the storm hit. Despite repeated calls to Nashville Electric Service, he said he never received updates on when his power would be restored.
"I don't ever get a text or nothing. Same thing that goes through every time," Alfred said Wednesday.
After NewsChannel 5 aired his story Wednesday evening, calls began flooding Goodlettsville Vice Mayor Jennifer Duncan's phone from concerned residents. Faler lives close to Goodlettsville.
"I was actually on the zoom call for NES last night at six o'clock and my Facebook and text messages blew up from your story that was at six o'clock at the same time. So I was trying to look at what was going on," Duncan said.
I reached out to NES Wednesday afternoon and shared Alfred's situation with them. When Duncan called Alfred to offer help, she discovered NES crews were already at his home.
"I got on the phone with him, his first words is, 'NES here right now.' So I didn't even have to go a step further other than to monitor it. I told him, I said 'I will call back and check on you,'" Duncan said.
Just minutes after the 6 p.m. newscast ended, NES trucks arrived at Alfred's home. Overnight, crews restored his power.
A day later, Alfred was able to walk out of his heated home for the first time in 10 days.
"Actually starting to feel like somebody again. You know when you get ignored and stuff, it makes ya feel less than what ya are and I finally got to the point where I had to have somebody speak for me," Alfred said.
Duncan said she plans to continue checking on Alfred and connecting him with available resources.
"He was at a breaking point. He was. And that's why I'm gonna stay in touch with him. I know others that have reached out want to stay in touch with him. Whatever he needs or anyone else needs," Duncan said.
While I spoke with Alfred, nonprofit Walking With Swagger Good Works arrived at his home with a generator, supplies and plans to help him get food assistance.
Have you or someone you know struggled with power outages during severe weather? Share your story and see how our community comes together to help neighbors in need. Watch the full video report and let us know how we can help tell stories that matter to you at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com.
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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