A powerful storm system cut a path through the middle of Tennessee in the early morning hours, shredding buildings, toppling electrical lines and littering streets with debris.
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President Trump said he would visit the Nashville area on Friday.
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NASHVILLE – A powerful storm early Tuesday spawned tornadoes that ripped through Tennessee, killing at least people and creating a trail of devastation that struck Nashville and stretched across several counties in the central part of the state. Officials said the full extent of the storm’s wrath remained impossible to grasp, as the death toll climbed and an untold number of people were unacc ounted for as of Tuesday morning. At least fatalities were reported in Putnam County, roughly miles east of Nashville, and deaths were also reported in Davidson, Benton and Wilson Counties. In Nashville, the police said a man and a woman had died after being struck by debris in East Nashville, an area of the city that had been among the hardest hit. “We have much to know and much to learn in the hours ahead,” Gov. Bill Lee told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday morning. Asked if he knew how many people were missing, he replied, “We don’t know that yet. Reports are just coming in. It’s still early yet. ” The tornadoes cut a path through the middle of Tennessee in the early morning hours on Tuesday. A line of severe storms moved through the region starting on Monday, and late in the day, the National Weather Service urged people to take cover as forecasters warned of severe thunderstorms and the potential for tornadoes. In Nashville alone, the authorities reported that at least 57 structures had either partially or completely collapsed. “It is a massive act of nature,” John Cooper, Nashville’s mayor, said at a briefing on Tuesday morning. Officials warned that the number of confirmed fatalities could rise, as officials were still working to get a handle on the reach of the devastation and emergency workers continued to search through the rubble of damaged buildings. Police officers were going house to house in some areas, and road crews were clearing streets and dangerous electrical debris. “It’s not looking good right now. We still have several people missing, a lot of loved ones calling in wanting us to locate their family, ”Sheriff Eddie Farris of Putnam County told a local news station, WKRN. “We certainly hope that number does not go up, but it’s not looking real promising at this point.” In Nashville, fire officials said that more than 728 emergency calls had been made in the hours since the tornado touched down . Much of the damage in the city was concentrated in the Germantown neighborhood, which is north of downtown, and in East Nashville, including significant devastation in the popular Five Points area. Photographs and videos spread on social media showing buildings that had been shredded and streets strewn with debris. Residents reported homes with roofs that had been stripped off and windows that had been blown out. The John C. Tune Airport, six miles west of downtown, sustained significant damage, with several hangars destroyed and power lines down, but none was reported at Nashville International Airport. On one local television newscast, an anchor showed viewers side-by-side photographs of streets lined with popular restaurants, hangouts and murals alongside the rubble that had taken their place. The Basement East, a popular music venue , was severely damaged, and the roof appeared to have blown off. “All staff working tonight are okay!” the venue said on its Twitter account . “Building sustained significant damage.” At the briefing on Tuesday, Mr. Cooper pointed out one auto parts store that had been decimated, which he saw as a sign of the tornado’s raw strength. “There was no stopping that,” he told reporters. “That just came out of the sky.” The police in Mount Juliet, an eastern suburb of Nashville, said on Twitter that several people in the city had been injured and several residences had been destroyed, and they urged residents to stay home. In Benton County, about miles west of Nashville, at least three fatalities had been reported and officials were out assessing the toll. “Power lines and roads down and of course electric was out but much of that cleared and restored very timely,” Brett Lashlee, the county’s mayor, said in an email. “More to come as we tour areas.” Officials urged residents to stay home if they could, noting the dangers posed by debris and downed electrical lines. Schools in Nashville and elsewhere were closed on Tuesday. Nashville Electric Service is currently working to restore power to more than , (customers.) By early morning, cleanup had began in the worst damaged areas around the Five Points neighborhood in East Nashville. Drones flew over affected areas and the sound of chain saws was everywhere. Attaboy, a bar near the Basement East that was popular with restaurant employees, was also flattened. Tuesday’s tornado – whose path was eerily similar to a tornado that heavily damaged a Nashville neighborhood in – barreled down streets, blew out windows and sheered off roofs. President Trump said that he would visit the Nashville area on Friday, adding that he was working with state officials and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was already on the ground. “Our hearts are full of sorrow for the lives that were lost,” he said, speaking at a conference for the National Association of Counties in Washington. “It’s a vicious thing, those tornadoes. I’ve seen many of them during a three-year period and I’ve gotten to see the results and they are vicious if you are in their path. ” “ We will get there , and we will recover, and we will rebuild, and we will help them, ”he added. They were shared on social media by stunned residents, weather forecasters and local news reporters. Sam Shamburger, the lead forecaster at National Weather Service Nashville, shared a video of the tornado passing near the downtown area, stirring up debris amid bursts of lightning. After sunrise, the scale of the tornado’s devastation became clearer, and the police shared aerial pictures of The John C. Tune Airport had Schools are closed and tens of thousands of people have lost power.
The sound of chain saws was everywhere in East Nashville.
Videos and photos on social media showed the power of the storms.
homes and businesses utterly demolished by the storm.
debris scattered on the runways and surrounding fields. The former Tennessee State Prison, a – year-old building that is no longer used to incarcerate people and was a filming location for “The Green Mile,” was also damaged.
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