This weekend brought numerous tornadoes to middle and west Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and North Carolina. The storms hit metro areas, with many folks receiving damage 2 weeks from Christmas. According to the National Weather Service in Nashville, the Clarksville, Tennessee tornado caused 3 fatalities and at least 62 reports of injuries. This tornado was rated as an EF3, with maximum winds of 150 mph and was on the ground for 42 miles from Clarksville into southern Kentucky before dissipating around Bowling Green, KY.
Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) cameras caught the moment a powerful tornado crossed I-65 just north of downtown Nashville on Saturday evening. The storm tracked from Madison, TN to Hendersonville and Gallatin before dissipating. At one point during that storm, a frightening Tornado Emergency was issued, the highest threat level for tornado warnings. A large explosion can be seen in the video, likely from a power transformer.
Unfortunately, many homes were destroyed and damaged, and multiple fatalities have been confirmed just north of downtown Nashville. This storm has been primarily rated an EF-2.
Phillip Dixon spoke with WeatherNation about catching the Nashville area tornado on camera and talked about the moment he saw the explosion. To help people in this neighborhood specifically, you can check out this Go Fund Me page. To help those affected across the state, visit The Red Cross.
This image comes from Rutherford, TN, about 120 miles west of Nashville. It looks like a barn may have had its roof ripped off, strewing around and bunch of debris and damaging cars. This is the tornado the National Weather Service out of Memphis has preliminarily rated EF-1.
Two additional tornadoes touched down in the Birmingham, AL suburbs, part of the same storm system. On Sunday the storms hit North Carolina, producing a few tornadoes near Raleigh. An EF-1 tornado was confirmed to have touched down, creating damage south of the city.
As time progresses, we will start to gather more and more images of the damage. We'll keep you updated as we wait to hear more about the tornado reports from the National Weather Service.