It was eerily quiet on Christmas Day in downtown Nashville, just hours after a massive explosion shattered windows, set fires and disrupted Internet and cell service for more than 100 miles.
The blast marked yet another grim day in what Mayor John Cooper called “Nashville’s hardest year ever.”
“We’ve persevered and we’ve overcome,” he told WPLN News after a press conference Friday evening. “I want to take to 2021 the knowledge that we can work together as a city.”
And the city has come together time and again in 2020 — to clear debris after deadly tornadoes in March, to protest systemic racism this summer and to help with COVID-19 vaccine trials this fall.
But after Friday’s explosion, the streets of Nashville’s tourism district were nearly empty. Police cars blocked off roadways lined with yellow tape where not even a global pandemic has kept away crowds in recent months. Shattered glass spilled onto the vacant sidewalks passed only by the occasional dog walker.
As first responders surveyed the scene, nearby residents, tourists and business owners struggled to make sense of what had happened. And whether they should stay or go.
‘Then we started hearing all the sirens’
Weldon Miller and his wife were hoping to spend their Christmas break visiting Nashville landmarks. They drove all the way from Dallas to see the Ryman Auditorium.
But when the couple woke up in their hotel room Friday morning to a loud bang, they realized they might have to change their plans.
“Thought it was a loud clap of thunder, got up, looked outside, it was nice and clear,” Miller said. “And then we started hearing all the sirens.”
Before long, Miller had lost cell service.
Around that time, Craig Knapp was winding his way through police barricades to check on his restaurant. He’s the general manager of Cafe Intermezzo, about a block from the explosion site.
Knapp said the restaurant didn’t seem to have sustained any damage and wouldn’t have been open on Christmas, anyway. But he said his business would feel the effects if the streets stay closed for a while. In a year full of unexpected challenges for the restaurant industry, Knapp called this latest setback “surreal.”
“You just don’t know what’s going to come at you and what’s going to be next,” he said. “But we’ll get through it. We’ll get through it.”
‘Why now? Right on Christmas?’
A few hours later, Cristian Sahdala was surveying the scene near his apartment building. The 22-year-old had been at his parents’ house on Christmas morning when he found out there had been an explosion just blocks from his apartment.
That’s when the fear started setting in.
Sahdala said police cars were blocking nearly every corner in his neighborhood while bomb dogs sniffed around the building. Confused residents had filled the lobby, trying to piece together what had happened.
When Sahdala finally made it to his apartment and opened the door, he found bottles knocked over, belongings scattered on the ground and scratches on the floor. The damage wasn’t serious. But he didn’t know when he’d feel safe sleeping in his apartment again.
“I am worried, because I don’t know why it happened,” Sahdala said. “I don’t see a reason why it happened, why you know, on that street, and why now? Right on Christmas?”
Sahdala said he picked this apartment because he wanted to live in the heart of the city, right near Broadway. Now, he’s not sure he wants to stay.
“If the police have some answers for us, then yes. And if they, you know, keep having police around for a while,” he said. “But if they don’t find anything, then no. I will not be comfortable living here.”
By late afternoon, Elsa Sanchez and Omar Almodovar were scrambling to find somewhere to eat Christmas dinner with their son. The family drove from Atlanta for a change of scenery, since they couldn’t spend the holiday with their family.
Sanchez said they hoped to walk around and have a quiet dinner.
“We can stay away from people and we can just make our own social distancing,” she thought. “But, nope, doesn’t work.”
Instead, the family figured they’d find somewhere to eat in the suburbs and head back home in the morning. No fancy Christmas outfits needed. Another 2020 plan ruined.
“What else? What else we can get from this year?” Sanchez wondered. “It’s very sad.”
Samantha Max is a Report for America corps member.
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