Killer tornadoes leave three dead as devastating storms hit Tennessee and North Carolina and maps reveal tornadoes will hit the South

By Perkin Amalaraj

10:54 May 9, 2024, updated 11:04 May 9, 2024

Forecasters have warned that a wave of dangerous storms will hit the South today, just a day after a series of killer tornadoes claimed three lives as it ripped through parts of Tennessee and North Carolina yesterday.

Amid Wednesday’s storms, the National Weather Service continued to issue tornado warnings extending past midnight in North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and Kentucky.

Parts of Arkansas and Mississippi were also under a tornado watch until the pre-dawn hours, according to a map it released as part of its warnings.

A storm that hit northeast Tennessee on Wednesday brought strong winds that downed power lines and trees.

Video showed large hail hitting vehicles and homes in the vicinity of Fire Station 1 in downtown Clarksville, which sits on the Tennessee-Kentucky border.

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Other videos show trees blown down by strong winds and cars wading through inches of water that had accumulated on roads.

The sheriff of Claiborne County, which is about an hour north of Knoxville, said a 22-year-old man was in a car when he was fatally struck by one of the trees.

A second person died in the town of Columbia in Maury County, also in Tennessee, where the National Weather Service said a tornado likely touched down.

Homes were damaged and people were injured, according to Lynn Thompson, Maury County 911 deputy director. Thompson told The Associated Press that she could not provide further details: “We are overloaded right now.”

Rita Thompson, a spokeswoman for Maury Regional Health, said the hospital had received five patients, including the person who died. Another was in serious condition and three had non-life-threatening injuries, she said.

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The storms also prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a temporary ground stop at Nashville International Airport and the National Weather Service to issue a tornado emergency – its highest alert level – for other nearby areas south of the state capital, including Chapel Hill and Eagleville.

Meanwhile, torrential rains and thunderstorms prompted water rescues northeast of Nashville.

“Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order,” the National Weather Service warned when it issued a flash flood emergency.

In North Carolina, a state of emergency was declared Wednesday night for Gaston County, west of Charlotte, following a large storm that downed power lines and cut down trees, including one that landed on a car. One person in the vehicle died and another was taken to a hospital, authorities said.

The storms moved into the region on Wednesday after parts of the central United States were hit by heavy rain, high winds, hail and tornadoes on Monday, including a deadly twister that tore through an Oklahoma town and killed one person. Then on Tuesday, the Midwest took the brunt of the bad weather.

The National Weather Service said tornadoes touched down in parts of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana on Tuesday.

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In Michigan, tornadoes hit the southwestern part of the state, in and around Kalamazoo County, according to the National Weather Service. Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for four counties.

The Portage area of ​​Kalamazoo County was hit hard when a FedEx facility was vandalized, leaving about 50 people temporarily trapped inside due to downed power lines.

Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said more than a dozen mobile homes in Pavilion Township were “completely destroyed.” At least 16 people were injured there, although their lives are not in danger, he added.

‘The cleanup efforts are tremendous. “We’re seeing houses all over this community that are completely gone, demolished,” Fuller said.

Houses were completely overturned and cars were destroyed by debris and trees carried by the storm.

A house where seven people lived “is totally at its peak,” he said. “They were able to self-rescue and get to safety and returned today.”

“We found houses on the road,” the sheriff said Tuesday night. ‘We found homes in neighbors’ houses. We found big trees in the houses.’

Travis Wycoff ventured out Tuesday night after seeing on radar that a tornado had touched down in the Portage area, and said he helped an elderly couple out of their partially collapsed home and freed a dog from service from another house.

“There were a lot of people running through the streets trying to find people and their pets,” Wycoff said. “It was just a lot of chaos.”

Samantha Smith clutched a box Wednesday afternoon outside her mother’s partially destroyed home in Pavilion Township. Inside the box were her grandmother’s ashes. Being able to recover the most precious items offered Smith a rare moment of relief amid the devastation of the storm. She said her parents and her brother were injured during the storm but survived.

“I’ve thanked God probably a billion times since this happened yesterday,” he said. ‘My children are healthy and well. We just have to recover what we lost.

Tornadoes were also confirmed in Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh, central Arkansas and northern West Virginia. The West Virginia tornado was at least the 11th tornado this year in the state, which sees two tornadoes occur in an average year.

Both the Plains and the Midwest have been hit by tornadoes this spring.