BULLETIN-17 Dead, 150 Missing in Tennessee Tornados

Knoxville News ^ | November 11, 2002 | Cecil Whatley

[ewing]

BULLETIN

At least 17 are reported dead, 60 injured and 150 missing in Morgan County after a tornado touched down Sunday night, according to Cecil Whatley, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency Director of Natural Hazards.

Emergency personnel are setting up command and evacuation centers in the Mossy Grove and Joyner communities as well as Wartburg and Petros.

[Vol2727]

My friend's son and brother live in Mossy Grove. She has been trying to get a hold of them since last night. They are two of the missing. We hope it's just a matter of the phones being down or something else.

My husband's friend's mom lives in that area as well. She was not at home at the time of the storm and they won't let her back in so she has no idea if her home is still there.

Prayers for everyone affected by this catastrophe.

This is indeed a big deal here in Tennessee. This area is just forty miles west of Knoxville where I live.

[OrangeDaisy]

Update as of 1:25 pm CST. http://tennessean.com/local/archives/02/11/25139563.shtml

At least 17 dead in Tennessee as storm toll rises

Tennessean staff reports and Associated Press

Emergency crews searched for survivors early today in a rural Tennessee community just 40 miles west of Knoxville, where officials said Sunday's pulverizing storms left at least seven people dead and more than 45 missing.

The series of storms smashed through more than a half-dozen states, killing at least 33 people and injuring more than 100. In Tennessee, officials said early today that the death toll stood at 17 and that 80 had been injured.

One of the state's fatalities was a firefighter who was responding to a disaster call, according to the state's emergency management authority.

More than 150 Tennesseans were missing as of midday, although authorities stressed that because of disabled telephone networks, many may have been unable to alert friends and families that they are O.K.

The storms left 10,000 people without power in Morgan, Roane, Dickson and Coffee counties Monday afternoon.

The Morgan County community of Mossy Grove was among the hardest hit. A tornado cut a swath five to six miles long just before 9 p.m. Sunday, killing at least seven. Phone service was out and emergency crews had to rely on ham radio operators for communication, making it difficult to find people who might be OK.

Authorities were kept away from assessing much of the damage because toppled trees and power lines blocked roadways, and they feared the death toll would rise as daybreak revealed the extent of the devastation.

''It's mass destruction, death,'' said Ken Morgan, an officer in nearby Oliver Springs. ''Mossy Grove is destroyed.''

In Tennessee, the tornadoes came in two waves. Late Saturday and early Sunday, twisters skipped across western and middle Tennessee, killing three people. On Sunday night another line of storms crossed the state.

In Montgomery County, an elementary school teacher and her husband died when winds tumbled their mobile home more than 100 feet in Port Royal.

Two people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed and 15 people were injured in Coffee County when two mobile home parks, three houses and a church were damaged near Manchester on Sunday night, Sheriff Steve Graves said.

The 10-year-old, Holbert Collins Jr., was killed around 7:45 p.m. when a tornado smashed into a house in the New Union Heights subdivision.

Graves identified the other victim as Albert Pena, who was in his mid-30s. He killed while inside a mobile home.

The Coffee County sheriff said that 19 others were injured and that as of midday, no one was reported missing.

About an hour after the storms struck Coffee County, the tornado ripped through Mossy Grove, damaging at least a dozen houses, said Steven Hamby, director of the Morgan County emergency management center. The dead include a 4-month-old child. Four people were killed in neighboring Cumberland County, officials said.

''Apparently, it just dug a path,'' he said.

The long band of storms, including several tornadoes, stretched from Louisiana to Pennsylvania, with Tennessee and Alabama the hardest hit Sunday. The death toll included 16 in Tennessee, 10 in Alabama and five in Ohio. Pennsylvania and Mississippi reported one death each.

One tornado in Ohio blasted apart a theater just minutes after a movie ended.

As the storms moved eastward, tornado warnings were posted Monday morning for sections of Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage. Hundreds lost power in the Carolinas.

At Van Wert, Ohio, Larry Longwell helped hustle about 30 customers into a store basement before a tree slammed into the parking lot.

''I didn't make it to the basement. I was trying to shut that dumb door. All I could see was that pine tree coming at me,'' Longwell said.

Carbon Hill, Ala., was in a similar situation as a nighttime swarm of storms belted the area and sent giant hardwood trees crashing down on small houses and mobile homes.

''I reckon about a third of the town is gone,'' said Terry Murray, part of a crew surveying the extent of the damage.

The tornadoes flattened dozens of homes throughout the region and left tens of thousands without power. Wind hit an estimated 140 mph in Tennessee and the storms carried torrential rain and golf-ball-sized hail.

Unseasonably high temperatures Sunday in the 80s, followed by a cold front, made conditions ripe for tornadoes, which are not unusual this time of year, said Gene Rench, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Memphis.

The injured included at least 55 people in Tennessee, 50 in Alabama, 21 in Ohio, about 30 in Mississippi, four in Georgia and two in Pennsylvania, authorities said.

[Catspaw]

My sister (a paramedic, now retired) and her husband (a deputy sheriff, retiring next year) worked the 1984 Barneveld (Wisconsin) F-5 tornado, which hit right after midnight. People never heard the warning, and a number of people died (probably around 10, with many more injured). They were there (they were from a neighboring county) at first light. The houses, according to them, looked like they had been bombed, with the largest pieces of the wood frame houses about a foot long, if that. The place was just shredded. I don't think they ever got over working that disaster. It was just that horrendous and shocking.

From what I saw of these tornados, these were of the same magnitude. I'm just praying for the victims and survivors.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

In Ohio we went through this very storm last night and were spared where I live.

My thoughts and prayers to all. It is horrific while devasting!

[jbstrick]

Here is what an F5 will do

May 3 1999, Oklahoma City

[ewing]

When are the phones coming back up?

[Republic]

I cannot believe you are still hangin out here. Only you could make light of the horror of people being unaccounted for because of a killer tornado.

I expect-if it were one of yoru family members missing, you still would not change.

You have a problem-call it a 'heart' problem-and need rest.

[DCPatriot]

First of all, it was the gazillionth thread about the deadly storms....added to the dozen cable and network 24 hour schedule.

I just can't see how 150 people can be "missing". It wasn't Kansas or South Dakota, you know.

Lighten up, Republic. God Bless George Bush. ;^)

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I hope there's 150 missing because they're in a place where they can't answer the phone. Prayers for everybody there!

[justme346]

I have lived in East TN for over 20 years and have never seen such spooky weather in my life. We were not in the path of a tornado, but the straight line winds were unbelievable. I love storms, so I went outside around 11:30pm to watch them come in. It wasn't long before I was making it back to the house because I could barely stand due to the wind. I thought our house was going to blow away, and a tornado touched down 20 miles from us! I cannot image what those people in the path of the tornados had to deal with.

One of our kids plastic toys was left outside, and the neighbor found it this morning buried about 2 inches in the side of their house.

I have been praying for those 150, but sadly believe there is no way they could live through that. Just my two cents.

[GailA]

We are down to about 40-50 missing...most of this is a communication nightmare as the phone lines are down.

[Republic]

They are missing to the people unable to contact them. I am GLAD our warning systems have improved to the point that lives are now regularly saved....but you are right-I shall lighten up, right after I down this cognac, oh, I know, but I like it BEFORE dinner with coffee! HEHE

[Melinda in TN]

I live in the hills between Knoxville and Chattanooga, near the Tennessee River, and it was scary here. Thankfully, all we lost were a lot of trees and anything in the yard that wasn't anchored down.

[archy]

most of this is a communications nightmare as the phone lines are down

Vehicle travel's not a real cakewalk, either. Those roofing tiles ripped off roofs with nails still in them are everywhere, and about half landed nails down. The other half landed nails pointing up, and at night, you find 'em with your tires.

They want me over that way with one of the search dog teams starting tomorrow afternoon, with a high probability that we won't even start working until Wednesday morning.

I think the area we'll be working is not one where they expect live survivors.

-archy-/-

[archy]

When I was stationed in Texas I saw a tornado "disappear" a mobile home. Picked it up clean and made it go away. Where to is anybody's guess.

It doesn't leave much.

[jwalsh07]

Maybe.

[jwalsh07]

Good luck archy.

[Palladin]

Prayers going up for all Tennesseans affected by the tornados....also for the people in the other states...OH, PA, AL, IN. And prayers for the rescuers and all those who are helping out, including the Red Cross.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Down to 14 missing according to the news earlier this evening. Did you hear Zach Wamp on the radio?

[Tennessee_Bob]

I just can't see how 150 people can be "missing". It wasn't Kansas or South Dakota, you know.

Simple. It's the nature of the landscape. Where DC is laid out in a gridwork of streets and buildings, that part of Tennessee is not. It's hills, valleys and hollers. While the big news folks were going on about the folks being missing - the locals were clarifying it by saying that they were unaccounted for. Trees coming down will block roads that are narrow to begin with, power lines coming down will knock out communications. Add to that the fact that this is one of the poorest parts of Tennessee and it's easy to see how folks can be unaccounted for, especially after a storm of this nature.

We thought we had lost one of our co-workers today because of the storm. He lives in a rural area near Crab Orchard, and no one could get in touch with him, and no one could get into the area because of the debris on the roads - turns out that they had lost power and phone for about 12 hours.