Tornadoes shred 40 buildings in US, kill 8
Nashville (US), March 3: Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee early Tuesday, shredding at least 40 buildings and killing at least eight people. One of the twisters caused severe damage in downtown Nashville.
Daybreak revealed a landscape littered with blown-down walls and roofs, snapped power lines and huge broken trees, leaving city streets in gridlock. Schools, courts, transit lines, an airport and the state capitol were closed, and some damaged polling stations were moved only hours before Super Tuesday voting was set to begin. Residents of the historic Germantown neighbourhood walked around in dismay as emergency crews closed off roads. Roofs had been torn off apartment buildings, large trees had been uprooted and debris littered many of the sidewalks. “A tornado skipped across the county,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper told the Tennessean while visiting an emergency shelter early Tuesday.
“You do have people at the hospital and frankly there have been fatalities.” Tennessee Emergency Management
Agency spokeswoman Maggie Hannan confirmed eight deaths, including one in Nashville, four in Putnam County, two in Wilson County and one in Benton County.
The tornadoes were spawned by a line of severe storms that caused damage across Tennessee as it moved through the state after midnight. Buildings, roads, bridges, utilities and businesses were affected, Hannan said. One tornado near downtown Nashville and reportedly stayed on the ground into Hermitage, about 10 miles east of the city.
Other areas reporting extensive damage included Mt. Juliet. “Our community has been impacted significantly,” the Mt. Juliet Police Department tweeted. Multiple homes were damaged and multiple injuries were reported, the department said. “We continue to search for injured. Stay home if you can.”