Deadly tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee on Saturday, causing damage and power outages for thousands. As of 7:15 p.m., 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.
My brothers neighborhood in Clarksville, Tennessee. Tornado wasn’t playing around… 🌪️ pic.twitter.com/Ds2Fk3OkGp
— Mike Staats (@Mstaats13) December 9, 2023
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 23 others were being treated at the hospital Saturday night.
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.
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.
“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.”
Wow! Here's another angle from a Nashville, #Tennessee Livecam moments ago as the #Observed #Tornado hit something and caused an #Explosion! 🤯🌪️ #tnwx @NWSNashville pic.twitter.com/uVO4Bo4ff8
— BirdingPeepWx (@BirdingPeepWx) December 9, 2023
The storm, as of 10 p.m. Saturday, had also knocked out power to more than 57,000 customers in Middle Tennessee. At the peak around 7:30 p.m., outages topped 85,000, including the entire city of Springfield.
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.
If you or someone you know is in need of shelter:
— Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) (@TennesseeEMA) December 10, 2023
Montgomery County:
Northeast High School
3701 Trenton Road Clarksville, TN
Church of Christ at Trenton Crossing
2650 Trenton Road
Clarksville, TN
Sumner County:
Beech High School
3126 Long Hollow Pike
Hendersonville, TN pic.twitter.com/hfcozQfxfk
But as of 11 p.m., many roads remain closed or backed up, like in Madison and Hendersonville, where the street maps are solid red on TDOT’s Smartway map.
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.
The severe weather was forecast earlier in the week by NWS — with unseasonably high 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.”
