25 People Die After Tornadoes Rip Through Tennessee – IOTW Report

25 People Die After Tornadoes Rip Through Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rescuers searched through shattered Tennessee neighborhoods for bodies Tuesday, less than a day after tornadoes ripped across Nashville and other parts of the state as families slept. At least 25 people were killed, some in their beds, authorities said. more

21 Comments on 25 People Die After Tornadoes Rip Through Tennessee

  1. May all and their families be in peace. Having seen the devastation in Joplin Mo. in 2011, I can understand what those people and communities are going through.
    Peace…

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  2. Night tornado’s are the most deadly since you can’t see them coming, you are more than likely at home and asleep.

    Prayers to the people that have to live with that constant threat.

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  3. I called my daughter in Nashville this morning to check up on her, she and my son in law and 2 granddaughters are OK. They live just North of Nashville and escaped the escaped the brunt of those tornadoes which passed to the South and East of them. It’s good thing she didn’t have to work today in downtown Nashville where she works for the IRS. They’re on their way to Paduka, Kentucky to see Baby Shark Live with her in laws tonight.

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  4. …I used to do tornado duty, which kind of comes with the territory in the Midwest, and I can tell you that they haven’t found everyone yet.

    ..in this type of incident with widespread destruction and fire/life hazards in every direction, you don’t have the manpower for house-to-house and collapsed structure searches, so in the early stages you’re pretty dependant on neighbors knowing something about neighbors, or sometimes even stopping, yelling, and listening for a response. You simply don’t have the manpower to thoroughly search everything- sometimes a firehouse or a company is put out of action by the same storm – and access to many places is obstructed, communications are disrupted or destroyed, and you have lots of issues with gas leaks, fires in cars AND houses, damaged water systems, downed wires, semis on their sides that may or may not be occupied, tore up schools and nursing homes…its a real treat, and services are overwhelmed REAL fast. You end up doing a sort of city triage because you can’t do everything, everywhere.

    Sometimes it’s a little counterintuitive in that you spilt your companies UP so more people can cover more ground faster, do quick hit things like opening jammed doors for lightly trapped people, scotch gas services when possible, and coalesce companies when you find a victim as quickly as possible.

    You stay as visible as possible and don’t move that quickly, so you can see and be seen, so folks can come up and tell you about the elderly couple that got sucked out of their bed, or the guy whose pickup got flipped an crushed (just 2 things that actually happened),and pinpoint all this so that you have a pretty good picture where you have to focus not just your resources, but mutual aid from agencies from outside to WELL outside your district that your Chief is hopefully staging somewhere on the edge of the affected area.

    But you’re gonna miss something.

    Someone doesn’t know Old Man Jenkins was at home. That lot is so devistaed that, in the dark and sleeting sheets of torrential rain, you can’t even tell a struture was there. That car that was blown off the overpass and into a gully where the creek was swollen into a river.

    You’re gonna miss something.

    It’s night in Nashville now. The search will continue,by headlight, by spotlight, by flashlight, sometimes even by hearing and feeling. Resources are pouring in. Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams are inbound. Tarained dogs from all over the Nation are coming into the nearest functional airport. Daylight will intensify the efforts.

    And find more bodies.

    God help those trapped make it through the night, strenghten their voices to be heard above the chaos, lead a rescuer to stumble onto them, preserve and protect those who are without help that they may not be without hope.

    And hold Your protective hand over those responders who run into danger and mayhem to the aid of Your children, that they may not add to the casualties, and grant them the ability to find those they search for and rescue those they can, and accept that they can’t save everyone.

    And Lord, help those families who have lost their homes, their possessions, and above all those loved ones, comfort them in the hour of need, give them Your blessed assurance that those who are lost in body are this day with you in spirit.

    And dear Lord, let this draw all closer to You with how precious life is and how that Man makes is easily destroyed in seconds as a caution that we need store our treasures in Heaven and not in our homes.

    And we ask this all in the precious name of Jesus,
    Amen

    “19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

    20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

    21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

    Matthew 6:19-21

    Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
    [4] Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
    [5] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
    2 Corinthians 1

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  5. @Geoff – I don’t know where TN Tux lives, but I’m pretty sure Joe Dan lives well south of the storm, as do I. The storm went through north east Nashville, so JDG should be okay, and I pray for TN Tux (and others).

    My son and daughter-in-law were pretty near the path, but had no damage or power outage, but they could not go to work today in downtown Nashville due to the debris and downed power lines.

    We have a local conservative talk radio station (WWTN), and the 5:00 AM morning host was awakened last night around 1:00AM by the cell phone weather alert announcement. For some reason, he decided to go into the radio station to track and cover the storm on air.

    After stopping at a neighborhood convenience store for a cup of coffee, he looked back toward his neighborhood and saw the lightning and eerie color of the sky. So he went back to his house and discovered that it had been hit by the tornado. If he hadn’t decided to go to the radio station, he would have been in his house when it was hit. It was not his time.

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  6. There are still a large number of people unaccounted for. The death toll is expected to increase. As a Nashvillian, I’m very grateful my family and I suffered no damage or injury. I’ve been concerned all day that other IOTWers who live in the Middle TN area might not have fared so well. Is there any way to make contact or have a roll call of some kind here? Please pray. There are a lot of hurting people here.

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  7. While Nashville is garnering most of the national attention, the worst of the damage and death and injuries occurred in the Cumberland Plateau (Putnam County – Cookeville and Baxter) It is awful – as Vixen stated, there are still a lot of people unaccounted for – 63 in Putnam County.

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  8. Most recent count 77 missing in Putnam County.

    National Guard is on site, God bless them they’re going to need the prayers for what they encounter.

    What SNS said. Everything is so scattered far and wide this will take months, some will never be found. The missing children….

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  9. …the Guard needs to shoot looters, too, although not for the property crimes, evil as they are.

    But for other activities, such as ignoring pleas for help so they can continue to steal, weakening structures that may well contain life so they can get at imagined treasures, and worse.

    …it increases your understanding of the depths of human evil when you come across dead folks with their fingers cut off.

    Usually on the left hand.

    For the rings.

    …and sometimes, the bleeding shows that the person wasn’t dead when the bolt cutters were applied…

    …disasters can bring out the best in human behavior.

    And the worst.

    Be prepared for anything.

    Because anything may find you.

    At any time…

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