Residents and volunteers work to clear debris of a destroyed home in search of pets and belongings in the aftermath of a tornado in Clarksville, Tennessee, U.S., December 10, 2023. /CFP
Residents and volunteers work to clear debris of a destroyed home in search of pets and belongings in the aftermath of a tornado in Clarksville, Tennessee, U.S., December 10, 2023. /CFP
Deadly tornadoes slammed residential areas in central Tennessee in the U.S. over the weekend, leaving six dead, homes without roofs and a collapsed church in shambles.
On Sunday, emergency workers and community members cleaned up after the weekend's intense storms and tornadoes that sent dozens more to the hospital, damaged buildings, turned over vehicles, and knocked out power to tens of thousands.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department identified the deceased. Twenty-one injuries were reported in Nashville, city officials said. A church north of downtown collapsed during the storm, resulting in 13 people being treated at hospitals, Nashville emergency officials said in a news release. They are now in stable condition.
The interior of a home after its roof was torn off by a tornado in Madison, Tennessee, U.S., December 10, 2023. /CFP
The interior of a home after its roof was torn off by a tornado in Madison, Tennessee, U.S., December 10, 2023. /CFP
The sanctuary and activities building at Community Baptist Church in Nashville were utterly demolished, Donella Johnson, the wife of the church's pastor, said in a Facebook video. Several members caught by the damage had emergency surgeries for broken hips and legs, she said.
At least six tornado tracks were reported Saturday in central Tennessee, according to the National Weather Service. Agency meteorologist Cory Mueller in Nashville said it was sending out tornado tracking teams on Sunday to attempt to confirm these potential tornadoes and calculate their severity.
Nashville Electric Service executive Teresa Broyles-Aplin said electric substations in north Nashville and nearby Hendersonville suffered significant damage and that outages could last days in some areas.
About 35,000 electricity customers were without power in Tennessee on Sunday evening, according to PowerOutage.us, down from more than 80,000 on Saturday night. Schools will be closed in Clarksville through Tuesday, officials said.
(With input from AP)