Damaging Storms Rake Across Rutherford County

May 03, 2020 at 07:35 pm by bryan


PHOTO SLIDESHOW
$element(bwcore,article_slideshow,57932,,,750,500)$

Thunderstorms producing damaging straight line winds leave its mark on Rutherford County.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rutherford County Sheriffs Office's Lisa Marchesoni told WGNS, "Since 4:49 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, Dispatch reported 95 complaints related to the storm including property damage, trees down and power lines down throughout the county."

The storms pushed in from the west Sunday afternoon just before 5 o'clock. There were numerous reports of 60-to-70 mile per hour wind gusts and some small hail. A storm wind gust of 61 miles per hour was reported at the Smyrna Airport at 4:51pm. About 5,000 Middle Tennessee Electric customers in western Rutherford County were without power.

Kittrell Fire Department

There was significant damage to the Kittrell Volunteer Fire Department in eastern Rutherford County. And two people in neighboring Cannon County were injured when a tree fell onto an ATV.

Kittrell Firefighter Logan Weaver told WGNS, "60 per cent of our building's roof was destroyed. All of our equipment is still in service and ready to respond. We had about 4-5 members in our bay when the damage occurred. The weather front brought heavy winds exceeding 60 mph. Large amounts of dirt and debris were thrown into the bay before firefighters were able to secure the doors. There were no injuries."

He explained that the winds progressively picked up as the front reached KVFD at 8067 Old Woodbury Pike. Rain was moderate prior to the destructive winds.

Weaver explained, "There was no warning other than the steady progression of the weather."

The Kittrell Volunteer Fire Department did not even have an opportunity to think about their own problems, Weaver reported that from the time damage occurred until the time of when they gave WGNS the damage report, the crew ran 5 calls for trees down and power lines down on structures or in roadways.

Floraton in particular was difficult due to 6-8 trees varying in size up to 3 feet across being on the roadway. Crews were able to clear all obstructions and open all roadways back up.

Multiple residents are out of power however Middle Tennessee Electric is working hard to restore it.

Weaver noted, "With the difficulty of the Coronavirus cancelling multiple fundraisers, and now with structural damage, our department is in need and accepting any donations. Regardless if the donation is monetary, water, etc we are very thankful for our community and the support of all the people around us."

Countywide, there are reports of trees down and some structural damage to homes and outbuildings.

MTEMC Power Outages Reported at 5:30pm in Rutherford County

Sections: News