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When Yar Mohammad and his family heard about the incoming winter storm, they stocked up on food and blankets. They moved from Afghanistan to Nashville in 2024 and had only dealt with snow, not the severe ice that blanketed the city for days even after the storm passed.
“It was very difficult for us,” Mohammad said. “We’ve never faced weather like this.”
Mohammad, his wife and three children spent three days without power. They slept together wrapped in blankets on their living room floor to try to stay warm, and tried to get by eating toast and beans.
Soon, his children started coughing and his wife suffered from back pain. The temperature in their home dropped to 26 degrees.