ICYMI—Hagerty Joins The Story with Martha MacCallum on Fox News to Discuss Tennessee’s Severe Winter Storm Response, Power Restoration Efforts

WASHINGTON-Monday, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined The Story with Martha MacCallum on Fox News to provide updates on storm-related fatalities in Tennessee, emergency response efforts, and ongoing power restoration challenges across the state.

Partial Transcript

Hagerty on storm-related fatalities and emergency response: "Those deaths have been deemed storm-related, and what we're trying to make certain is that we don't have further deaths right now. I was out with our Tennessee Highway Patrol today. They're doing a fantastic job. They're working with the National Guard, they're working with the Homeland Security team here at the state level. They're starting to do what they call welfare visits. These are people who haven't been able to be reached. You can imagine an in-law or a parent that you can't reach. They're just going to check their homes to make sure everything is okay. We're trying to be as proactive as we possibly can be here in Tennessee so that we don't see any more fatalities. But it's a serious situation. Over 160,000 homes just in the Nashville area are out, but over 300,000 across my home state of Tennessee."

Hagerty on statewide coordination and recovery efforts: "This is an area of concern across the state. I'm so thankful that we've got our state troopers out there leading the charge. We've got the National Guard stepping up and helping. Our Memphis Safe Task Force in Memphis, who have been focused on a lot of different areas to try to bring about safety in Memphis, mainly focused on criminal activity and law and order, is now pitching in to help local authorities deal with this weather-related crisis. We're seeing everybody pull together here in Tennessee in a very positive way. It's a big issue. It could be a day, but I think it's going to be a little bit longer than that, given the magnitude of damage. It's a lot to be concerned about."

Hagerty on power restoration challenges: " We don't have a good analysis yet because it's a dual problem. Not only are power lines down, but trees are down that don't allow crews to get to the power lines. They're working as quickly as they possibly can. They've already gotten over 60,000 people back on track just in the Middle Tennessee, Nashville area. That's positive momentum, but there's still a lot more ground to cover."

Hagerty on the severity and danger of the storm: "If I could describe it, standing outside yesterday, just the sound of what was happening-the weight of the trees causing branches to fall, trees falling over altogether, crossing the road-it sounded like cannons going off. Three-, four-, five-story tall trees breaking, tops falling through. It is dangerous. I'm thankful that no one was hurt where your reporters were, but those types of close calls have been happening all over the state."

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