UPDATED: 9:49AM 3/3/2020
Tennessee (WBAP/KLIF) – The death toll has climbed dramatically in the wake of powerful tornadoes that ripped through Tennessee overnight. The devastating tornado killed at least 19 people.
“There’s a really good possibility that there may be more,” Governor Bill Lee said at a press conference. “It’s early yet. A number of people are missing … and many are injured.”
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said the tornado “devastated” the community and showed how “fragile life is.”
Drone video showed storm damage in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, which is located east of Nashville.
A deadly tornado struck the Nashville area in the early hours of Tuesday. https://t.co/SPsh3yBf8p pic.twitter.com/P1QHkNRm64
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 3, 2020
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee early Tuesday, killing at least seven people. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency confirmed the preliminary death toll as first responders search the wreckage.
Nashville Tennessee tornado overnight killing 2 people.
I-40 in Lebanon area shutdown due to multiple trucks flipped over, power lines across the interstate & building fires.
Please be safe as this storm is still on the move. 🙏#Tornado#NashvilleTNhttps://t.co/xc7rVqb0K7— ∼Marietta (@MariettaDaviz) March 3, 2020
One twister hit downtown Nashville, collapsing about 40 buildings around the city. One was a concert venue that had just held an event for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders ahead of Super Tuesday voting.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper and the sheriffs of Putnam and Benton counties reported the fatalities across a landscape littered with blown-down buildings, snapped power lines and huge broken trees.
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Meantime, the deadly tornadoes and storms are affecting Super Tuesday voting in two states. The Tennessee Democratic Party is moving some polling places damaged by tornadoes that rolled through the Nashville area Monday night.
In Alabama, early-morning storms damaged homes and toppled trees. At one polling place, voting was being conducted by flashlight, said a volunteer. The storm knocked out electricity, but the precinct’s two electronic voting machines had battery backups and a few people had cast ballots less than an hour later.
