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Deadly tornadoes cause damage across Middle Tennessee

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Hendersonville, Tennessee storm damage
Paige PflegerWPLN News
Businesses in Hendersonville along East Main Street were damaged and downed power lines made it difficult for travel on Saturday.
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Deadly tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee on Saturday, causing damage and power outages for thousands. As of Sunday afternoon, six people were confirmed dead. There were three deaths in Clarksville and three in the Madison area of Nashville. There were also dozens of injuries across the region.

The latest at 3:15 p.m. Sunday: 

  • The National Weather Service has confirmed several tornadoes touched down Saturday. On Sunday, the NWS sent out teams to survey damage around Clarksville, Madison, and Hendersonville. The weather service has classified the Clarksville tornado as an EF-3 with winds of 150 mph.
  • Freezing temperatures are complicating recovery efforts as tens of thousands remain without power.
  • Here’s how you can help — and where you can turn if you need help — after the storms.

A tornado touched down in Clarksville after 1 p.m. and was later followed by a tornadic storm that went through Dickson, Cheatham, Davidson, Robertson, Sumner and Trousdale counties. The National Weather Service reported quarter-sized hail, collapsed buildings, downed power lines, uprooted trees and flipped vehicles across the region.

In Clarksville, three people were killed — two adults and one child — and 62 others were being treated at the hospital as of Sunday.

Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden said that teams were working through the night.

“Right now, we have all of our first responder agencies out there doing searches, clearing the area and making sure everything is safe,” Golden said.

Early in the afternoon, people in Clarksville reported the tornado passing directly in front of them on Interstate 24. The interstate was stopped right before Exit 1. Homes are without roofs and a semi truck was picked up and thrown onto the westbound side of I-24. There are also reports of RVs tipped over with possible injuries as well as numerous power poles down or snapped, trees broken and uprooted, and buildings collapsed.

The weather service in Nashville reported at least one tornado, which caused the deaths of two adults and one child in Madison and 13 injuries in a building collapse at the Community Church at 3838 Dickerson Pike.

Paige Pfleger WPLN News

Damage to houses on Nesbitt Lane in Madison.

The Metro Nashville Police Department identified the deceased as Joseph Dalton, 37; Floridema Gabriel Perez, 31; and her son, Anthony Elmer Mendez, 2. Police say Dalton was inside his mobile home on Nesbitt Lane when the storm’s winds rolled the home on top of Perez’s residence. Perez’s 7-year-old son and Dalton’s 10-year-old son were both in their homes at the time and have been transported to Vanderbilt’s children’s hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Houses along Nesbitt Lane had their roofs torn off and windows blown in, and fallen trees were still blocking the street on Saturday night.

NWS also reported quarter-size hail, damage to homes and flipped cars on Interstate 65.

The storm destroyed several businesses along Main Street in Hendersonville. On Saturday night, people gathered to board up broken windows. Edith Gonzalez was working at the restaurant Rancho Cantina when the tornado struck. She, her coworkers and some customers ran and took shelter behind the bar.

Paige Pfleger WPLN News

The Rancho Cantina restaurant in Hendersonville.

“There was only the sound of wind just coming through, the shatter of the glass falling to the floor and against the Christmas tree,” she says. She uses her foot to nudge a tree on the floor of the restaurant surrounded by broken glass. “There’s a whole Christmas tree right here on the ground. We believe that’s what stopped the glass from flying all the way in.”

There are reports of heavy damage in downtown Springfield in Robertson County, and according to Dickson County Emergency Management, there are multiple homes damaged and destroyed in the Cumberland Furnace and Claylick communities. 

Kelsey Bush lives in Slayden in Dickson County, which was hit by the tornado. She described the damage as “hellacious.”

“Debris in the power lines, a half-house. A bunch of trees down, power lines,” she said. “It’s awful.”

At the peak of the storm around 7:30 p.m., outages topped 85,000, including the entire city of Springfield. As of 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, about 9,000 customers were still without power.

Red Cross says it is staffing shelters. There are two in Clarksville: one at Northeast High School and another at Church of Christ at Trenton Crossing. There is another shelter in Hendersonville at Beech High School, and one in Nashville at Isaac Litton Middle School. Dickson County Family YMCA is open as a Storm Shelter Saturday night for those affected by the storms in the Cumberland Furnace area and Claylick area.

 

The Dickson County Sheriff’s Office asks those in Cumberland Furnace Saturday night to avoid Gamble Hollow, Freeman Loop and Freeman Cemetery Road and those in White Bluff to avoid Hwy 250 (Claylick Road), Nosegay Road and Pack Road. All areas reportedly have trees down, homes damaged and roads blocked, and emergency personnel will continue working in those areas through the night.

Rose Gilbert WPLN News

A tornado cut through the Cumberland Furnace area of northern Dickson County, causing damage on and around Freeman Loop Road.

The severe weather was forecast earlier in the week by NWS — with unseasonably warm temperatures for December with a high of 66 degrees.

Around 10 p.m., Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell released his update, announcing the city and county had declared a state of emergency. He also confirmed fatalities.

“I’m heartbroken to report that we know of at least three lives lost as a result of this devastating storm,” he said. “In addition to known fatalities and injuries, first responders are still working across the county to get to some hard-to-reach areas.”

Disaster response organizations are asking people to avoid heading to areas affected by yesterday’s tornadoes. That includes people who want to volunteer. Emergency managers and volunteer groups say the wait is needed so that first responders and utility crews can continue their work.

Nashville Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, or VOAD, has officially activated. Those who need assistance can fill out a request form at NashvilleResponds.com. The group says it’s in the very early stages of recovery, and it will take 72 to 96 hours to respond to requests. 

Meanwhile in Clarksville, Blood Assurance is accepting blood donations at its center until 3 p.m. Sunday. The agency says it shipped extra blood, platelet and plasma units overnight to several midstate hospitals that are treating people with injuries related to the storms. All Blood Assurance donation centers in the region will be open Monday.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.

This post was last updated 11:10 a.m. Tuesday.

Rachel Iacovone, Director of Multiplatform Publishing

Rachel Iacovone (YAH-kuh-VOAN-ee) is WPLN's Director of Multiplatform Publishing, which is a long way of saying she leads all the ways the news reaches you (this website, social media, This Is Nashville and more). She began her public radio career covering politics in Florida during the 2016 presidential race. In 2019, Rachel came to Nashville as a local Morning Edition, and later All Things Considered, host before her passion for data deep dives, visualizations, photography and social media storytelling pulled her off air and put her online fully.

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