Extreme storms that swept by central Tennessee killed six folks on Saturday and despatched about two dozen to the hospital, whereas damaging properties and companies in a number of cities.
Three folks, together with a toddler, died after an obvious twister touched down in Montgomery County north of Nashville close to the Kentucky state line, county officers mentioned in a information launch. The Nashville Emergency Operations Heart mentioned in a submit on its social media account that three folks had been killed on account of extreme storms in a neighborhood immediately north of downtown.
In the meantime, 23 different folks had been handled for accidents at Montgomery County hospitals.
Pictures posted by the Clarksville Hearth Division on social media confirmed properties destroyed and particles strewn throughout lawns, in addition to a tractor-trailer flipped on its facet on a freeway and insulation ripped from the partitions of buildings.
“That is devastating information and our hearts are damaged for the households of those that misplaced family members,” Clarksville Mayor Joe Bates mentioned in an announcement. “Town stands prepared to assist them of their time of grief.”
No different details about the victims was instantly obtainable on Saturday.
The twister struck round 2 p.m., and a shelter was arrange at an area highschool, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement.
Residents had been requested to remain residence whereas first responders assessed the scenario. In a briefing shared on social media, Betts mentioned in depth injury had been induced.
“So please, when you need assistance, name 911 and assist will probably be on the way in which immediately. However when you can, please keep residence. Do not be out on the roads. Our first responders want time and area,” he mentioned.
Tennessee Governor Invoice Lee mentioned he and his spouse, Maria, are praying for all Tennesseans affected by the storms.
“We mourn the lives misplaced and ask everybody to proceed to observe the steering of native and state officers,” Lee mentioned in an announcement.
Shanika Washington mentioned that as quickly as she heard sirens in her Clarksville neighborhood, she took her kids, ages 5 to 10, to a windowless toilet within the basement of her residence.
“The lights had been flashing, so I knew he was someplace close by,” she mentioned. “I simply saved praying to God whereas it was occurring. It was very terrifying and scary.”
Throughout 20 harrowing minutes within the toilet, Washington hovered over her kids like a protecting defend.
“The again door positively opened, and I simply heard the wind blowing,” she mentioned. “The curtains and issues had been like shaking actually dangerous. I may inform we had been in the midst of the storm.”
When she received out of the lavatory, she appeared out the window and noticed the devastation: automobiles with their home windows blown out by particles. Shutters torn from homes. The roofs of some homes had been torn off. Air con items and yard grills had been scattered like toys, and wood partitions between properties had been lacking.
As a result of energy outage within the space, Washington took her kids to a lodge to spend the evening.
“I am nonetheless a bit of shaky, so I most likely will not sleep a lot tonight,” Washington mentioned. “I am nonetheless making an attempt to type of course of the whole lot.”
Allie Phillips, who lives in Clarksville, mentioned she was consuming lunch when she began receiving notifications {that a} twister was shortly approaching her neighborhood.
“It was painful watching the stay feed and never figuring out if my home was nonetheless there,” she mentioned. “Once we lastly determined to go away, the street to my home was closed as a result of there have been loads of energy traces on the street and we needed to take a detour.”
Phillips mentioned her residence escaped with minimal injury — noting that her daughter’s toys had been damaged and a neighbor’s kennel crashed into the again of her home — however she was saddened to see that her neighbor’s home was devoid of a roof and a home was behind the constructing. It has utterly disappeared.
The Nationwide Climate Service issued a number of twister warnings for Tennessee, and mentioned it deliberate to survey an space the place an obvious twister struck Kentucky.
Greater than 80,000 clients had been with out energy in Tennessee on Saturday evening, based on PowerOutage.us.
The storm got here almost two years to the day when the Nationwide Climate Service recorded 41 tornadoes in a handful of states, together with 16 in Tennessee and eight in Kentucky. A complete of 81 folks have died in Kentucky alone.
