Tennessee declares state of emergency as roads deteriorate

Tennessee declared a state of emergency Monday night, citing rapidly deteriorating road conditions and major interstate traffic problems.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency activated its emergency management plan at 9 p.m., calling on the Tennessee National Guard for aid and sending assistance to several counties where interstate crashes occurred.

"The road conditions in Tennessee are deteriorating rapidly, motorists are backed up on two major interstates, and a number of counties are requesting assistance with various response actions," TEMA stated.

Among problems:

• I-40 eastbound at mile marker 156 in Hickman County was backed up 12 miles into Humphreys County around mile marker 152.

• I-24 westbound from the 96 mile marker to I-840 is to be closed due to crashes and a previous backup.

• Power outages had spiked across Tennessee as of 9 p.m., topping 55,682 customers in 19 counties, with Bedford, Davidson, Fentress, Knox, Monroe and Smith counties having the highest outages.

In the Nashville-area, a tractor-trailer hit several cars on Interstate 24 near Briley Parkway at about 7 p.m. Monday and Franklin police reported a "very serious crash" on Interstate 65 at 10 p.m. in which a semi crashed onto a car, critically injuring several people and closing the highway south of Murfreesboro Road.

At 10 p.m., with temperatures at 19 degrees, the Department of Transportation SmartWay map showed 11 crashes on area interstates. In Nashville, police were dealing with 42 crashes at 10:40 p.m.

The emergency management agency described the following statewide responses:

• TEMA requested the Tennessee National Guard for State Active Duty to deploy initially a 10-person crew with five Humvees for motorist wellness checks.

• THP has requested National Guard specifically for the Humphreys County backup on I-40.

• TEMA is transporting 216 bottles of water and 225 ready packs are being transported to the backup on I-40.

• The Williamson County Sheriff's Office requested salt for I-65 north at the I-840 eastbound entrance ramp.

Deeper freeze coming

Earlier Monday, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean advised residents to brace for more challenges with temperatures expected to plummet on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Middle Tennessee is under an ice storm warning until 9 a.m. Tuesday, and Nashville temperatures will stay below freezing with mostly cloudy skies, said Brittney Whitehead, meteorologist with Nashville's National Weather Service.

Any sunshine that peaks through Tuesday will help, but lows Tuesday night could hit 13 degrees, with wind-chill figures in the single digits, Whitehead said. Actual temperatures are expected to drop below zero on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Staff Writer Holly Meyer contributed to this report. Reach Tony Gonzalez at 615-259-8089 and on Twitter @tgonzalez.