Winter storm deaths increase in Tennessee
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JACKSON, Tenn. — As remnants of last week’s winter storms slowly disappear, a startling figure rises — the number of Tennesseans who’ve lost their lives in the extreme cold. “We live in a society I guess where we take things for granted now, and with these icy conditions you got to plan ahead for these conditions,” said Lt. Brad Wilbanks with the Tennessee Highway Patrol. As of late Tuesday, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said 30 people have died due to the wintry weather, 10 of those in car crashes alone. “It goes back to basic principles. For instance, seat belts — a lot of people don’t wear seat belts because they think this won’t happen to them,” Wilbanks said. “If you knew you were going to be in a crash, you wouldn’t be there. If you knew you were going to be in a bad cold weather situation, you wouldn’t be there either.” TEMA officials say another 10 of the deaths were from hypothermia and the remainder linked to carbon monoxide poisoning and fires. Many say the numbers are shocking and will make them think twice about venturing out in the winter weather. “Yeah, I actually am very shocked because normally when we get bad weather, we don’t have this,” Sierra McClinton said. “It’s just ridiculous.” And if you think the dangers of winter weather are past us, officials say think again. “Always heard the older people say if you see snow sticking on the ground, it means it’s waiting for another one, so it might not be over yet, so be prepared,” Wilbanks said. “We don’t know what the next few weeks might bring.”
