NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The ice. The cold. The days without power. For hundreds of thousands of people across Middle Tennessee, January 25 is not a date that's easy to forget.
For Janeese Cox, a Nashville mother living on Lakeford Drive in Donelson, the storm meant packing up her family and heading to a hotel because staying home simply wasn't an option.
"The house got so cold, we were all like up under blankets," Cox said.
The hotel she found also lost heat during the storm, but it was still safer than staying home. When the ice finally melted and the lights came back on, Cox thought the worst was behind her.
It wasn't.
FEMA approved individual assistance for 29 counties in April, making Middle Tennesseans like Cox eligible for winter storm help. To apply, she needed documentation from NES confirming her power had gone out. When she went down to the office, NES told her there was no record of her outage at all.
"[I] said, well, we were out of power for 3 days. Is there a reason why it's not showing in your system? He said, 'I'm not sure,'" Cox said.
Days in the dark, hundreds of dollars spent on hotels and lost food, and the utility company had no record it ever happened, she said.
"I left NES feeling so frustrated, helpless, you know, because this is what I need to get this assistance, and you're telling me you have no record of this," Cox said.
When Cox told me a letter was the missing piece for her FEMA application, I wanted to do what I could to help. After NewsChannel 5 reached out to NES, Cox received the letter she needed. The letter confirmed her outage and restoration timeline.
"A power outage was reported at 7:27 a.m. as Winter Storm Fern entered the Middle Tennessee area. Power was restored on January 28, 2026, at 4:21 a.m. This letter serves as documentation of interrupted service due to storm-related damage from January 25 to January 28, 2026," Cox said as she read the letter.
If approved, FEMA assistance would help ease Cox's family's storm-related debt. And she knows she's not alone.
"There's some people, like right now, that are still trying to catch up," Cox said.
Cox got her documentation, but questions remain. If NES had no record of her outage, that may explain why her February bill came in close to $375 when she expected it to be in the $200 range. NES has not responded to questions about either issue.
FEMA individual assistance can help cover essential items like gas, food, water, and medication. If you can show proof that insurance denied your storm-related damage, you may also be able to apply it to that.
May 15 update: In a letter explaining her February bill, NES explained the power at their home cycled on and off — 66 times on January 25 alone — which resulted in intermittent service and therefore, some charges. Cox said the power was far from reliable, and is still seeking clarity on the other two days. Meanwhile, FEMA has notified the family that they will be reimbursed $154 for one of their nights in a hotel.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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