It started out like most evenings – rain in the forecast and maybe a severe storm with wind and hail. Not unusual, especially this time of year. Stu was asleep and I was still up. I saw the warnings get a bit stronger so I kept an eye on the weather as I went to bed. We moved into a tornado watch, again, not all that unusual.
Sometime around 1am, the alert from NOAA went off on Stu’s phone, waking him. I told him about the watch as I got up to read his phone (not realizing mine was buzzing, too). It was now a tornado warning and we were told to take cover. The warning was active until 3am. After a little discussion and checking out various webites/weather maps, we got up and partially dressed. We took the #2doods into the utility room with us along with something to read. We pulled out lantern out of the closet and set it on the floor between our chairs, knowing the power was apt to go off.
We could hear the wind and rain battering the house, then we heard hail. Hard hail. No idea how big it was but we had seen photos of the hail in Nashville, 2″ across. News was now filtering in from the tornadoes hitting Nashville. A lot of devastation, even in the photos taken at night.
The power went out but we still had Internet thanks to a UPS for our wifi router. From past experience we knew it would stay up around 5 hours. We listened to the weather outside, not knowing what kind of damage we might find in the morning. We watched the news and weather on my iPad mini, getting more concerned when we heard a possible tornado had touched down in neighboring Cookeville.
The next news was even scarier – while the rotation had lifted, it was headed directly at Clarkrange. We waited. And listened. And read. And waited.
By 3am the worst was over and even though a tornado watch was extended to 6am, due to some weather patterns in the Nashville area, we eventually went to bed at 4am. I stayed up till 5am, still monitoring things. The power was still out and the cell service had died as well.
I slept about 5 hours and when I woke I read the devastating news about our adopted town of Cookeville. The west side of town had been hit with a tornado. Three days later the devastation has been documented – 18 dead and 88 injured (some severely). The original unaccounted number was 77 but today that went to zero.
Stu had been out and it appeared we had no damage, even from the hail. No dings or dents in anything he could see and no tree damage. We were very lucky! We spent two hours in the utility room, our power was out for nine hours, and cell service a couple more. Life is good!
The damage in Nashville was extensive but with a lower death count. All the photos and drone coverage has been staggering. In Cookeville we have watched the community join together to help in any way they can. 1500 people showed up Wednesday morning to volunteer to help with the clean-up as well as the continued search for survivors. The donations continue as the names of the deceased are released, including children. But we also read unbelievable accounts of survival against all odds. Oh, and the tornado? An EF-4, only one category down from the worst.
We had warning time, many didn’t or were sleeping and weren’t alerted. Even the weather forecasters were caught by surprise. Our local weatherman lives one community over and THIS is his analysis of what happened. It’s an interesting read.
What to take away from this? Hug or call your loved ones, tomorrow is never guaranteed.
