NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Twelve people have died in Tennessee as a result of last week’s extreme winter weather, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reported in its latest “Flash Report” Monday evening.
The agency’s report states the Tennessee Department of Health confirms currently a total of twelve deaths described as weather-related.
Four deaths occurred in Shelby County, two deaths in Sumner County, while Dickson, Maury, Overton, Williamson, Lawrence, and McNairy counties each reported one death.
Shelby County law enforcement said 10-year-old Benjamin Luckett died Feb. 14 while saving his 6-year-old sister, Abigail, who fell through a frozen pond near Millington.
Brentwood police in Williamson County said 9-year-old Campbell Martin was killed on the afternoon of Feb. 16, while riding on a tube being pulled down Seward Road by an ATV that was driven by his father. As the tube was sliding through snow and ice, officers said it collided with a mailbox, resulting in Campbell’s death.
The Dickson County sheriff said last Thursday that 77-year-old Donald Mitchell, a farmer in Vanleer, was killed as he attempted to rescue two calves who went into a frozen pond. The farm where this happened is along Highway 49 West near the county line.
Last Friday, Overton County Executive Ben Danner said that a 70-year-old man, who had been without electricity for days, attempted to walk to a neighbor’s home to get help. While on his way, the man suffered an apparent heart attack and died.
The two deaths in Sumner County involve an elderly man and an elderly woman from Portland. Both involve issues with heat and power. One resident lost power and the other was found on the floor by a wood stove, according to Sumner County EMS Chief Greg Miller. “They basically froze to death,” Miller told News 2.
The McNairy County death is possibly a child that fell through the ice into a frozen pond while playing in the snow with other kids over the weekend. Fire Chief Steve Stoll said the child, believed to be six years old, did not survive after falling into the water.
Details on three of the Shelby County deaths, as well as deaths in Maury and Lawrence counties, are not known at this time.