Severe thunderstorms have led to a state of emergency in Tennessee. Tornadoes left behind damage in southern Middle Tennessee.

Here in Rutherford County, much of the county was under a tornado warning between 9:30 and 10:45 or so Wednesday night. As NewsRadio WGNS provided wall-to-wall coverage of the storms on-air, the Rutherford County Emergency Management Agency reported receiving several reports of a funnel cloud in the area of I-24 and Medical Center Parkway. We also received a report of rotating clouds near the Smyrna Airport, but there was no reported tornado touchdowns.

There was scattered damage and power outages across the county. A large sign at the Arby's on Chaffin Place, just off Old Fort Parkway, was blown down in the high winds. Large trees in the eastern part of the county being blown down were also reported. In addition, there were reports of nickle sized hail.

The aftermath here pails in comparison to other parts of the state, which saw tremendous amounts of damage, numerous injuries and two person's were killed in Perry County. As Jim Krasula reports, it was part of a powerful and rare December storm system that ravaged a large part of the country...

Tennessee hasn't seen a December tornado outbreak like this since 2000 and it's the first time since 1988 storms claimed lives in the state during the last month of the year.