Extreme storms that tore via central Tennessee killed six folks Saturday and despatched about two dozen to the hospital as properties and companies had been broken in a number of cities.
Three folks, together with a toddler, had been killed after an obvious twister struck Montgomery County north of Nashville close to the Kentucky state line, county officers mentioned in a information launch. And the Nashville Emergency Operation Middle mentioned in a submit on a social media account that three folks had been killed by extreme storms in a neighborhood simply north of downtown.
In the meantime, one other 23 folks had been handled for accidents at hospitals in Montgomery County.
Photographs posted by the Clarksville hearth division on social media confirmed broken homes with particles strewn within the lawns, a tractor trailer flipped on its facet on a freeway and insulation ripped out of constructing partitions.
“This is devastating news and our hearts are broken for the families of those who lost loved ones,” mentioned Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts in an announcement. “The city stands ready to help them in their time of grief.”
No different details about the victims was instantly accessible Saturday.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement {that a} twister touched down round 2 p.m. A shelter was arrange at an area highschool.
Residents had been requested to remain at house whereas first responders evaluated the scenario. In a briefing shared on social media, Pitts mentioned there was intensive harm.
“So please, if you need help, call 911 and help will be on the way immediately. But if you can, please stay home. Do not get out on the roads. Our first responders need time and space,” he mentioned.
Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee mentioned he and his spouse, Maria, had been praying for all Tennesseans who had been affected by the storms.
“We mourn the lives lost and ask that everyone continue to follow guidance from local and state officials,” Lee mentioned in an announcement.
Shanika Washington mentioned that as quickly as she heard the storm sirens going off in her Clarksville neighborhood, she took her youngsters, ages 5 and 10, to a windowless toilet within the basement of her townhouse.
“The lights were flickering, so I knew it was somewhere close in the vicinity,” she mentioned. “I just kept praying to God as it was going on. It was very terrifying and scary.”
Throughout their 20 harrowing minutes within the toilet, Washington hovered over her youngsters as a protecting defend.
“The back door absolutely did fly open, and you just heard a bunch of wind,” she mentioned. “The blinds and stuff were like shaking really bad. I could tell that we were dead smack in the middle of a storm.”
When she got here out of the lavatory, she appeared out of a window and noticed the destruction: Particles swept onto automobiles that had their home windows damaged out. Shutters ripped from properties. Some roofs had been ripped off townhouses. Air con models and yard grills had been tossed like toys, and picket dividers between townhouses had been lacking.
As a result of the ability within the space was out, Washington took her youngsters to a resort for the evening.
“I’m still shaken up a little bit, so I probably won’t get much sleep tonight,” Washington mentioned. “I’m still trying to just kind of like process it all.”
Allie Phillips, who lives in Clarksville, mentioned she was grabbing lunch when she started receiving notifications {that a} twister was rapidly approaching her neighborhood.
“It was excruciating watching the live stream and not knowing if my house was still there,” she mentioned. “When we finally decided to leave, the road to my home was shut down because so many power lines were on the road and we had to take a detour.”
Phillips mentioned her house survived with minimal harm – noting that her daughter’s toys had been banged up and {that a} neighbor’s canine kennel hit the again of her house – however she was saddened to see that her neighbor’s home was lacking a roof and a house up the block had all however fully disappeared.
The Nationwide Climate Service issued a number of twister warnings in Tennessee, and mentioned it deliberate to survey an space the place an obvious twister hit in Kentucky.
Greater than 80,000 electrical energy clients had been with out energy in Tennessee on Saturday evening, in response to PowerOutage.us.
The storm got here almost two years to the day after the Nationwide Climate Service recorded 41 tornadoes via a handful of states, together with 16 in Tennessee and eight in Kentucky. A complete of 81 folks died in Kentucky alone.
