How the Tennessean staff covered the deadly March 2020 tornadoes

The storm that would devastate Middle Tennessee in the early morning hours of March 3 was first spotted about 10:15 p.m. the night before in rural Missouri, about 80 miles west of the Mississippi River.

A little more than two hours later, the storm had settled over Middle Tennessee and generated an alert at 12:39 a.m.: "TAKE COVER NOW IF YOU ARE IN DAVIDSON, WILSON, OR SUMNER COUNTIES!"

One minute later, a man named Patrick called 911 as he searched for his co-workers among the rubble at Best Brand Liquor Distributors on Cockrill Bend Boulevard in North Nashville.

"We just got hit by a tornado," he said to the operator as he processed the scene around him.

From there, it wore a familiar path through the area, destroying homes and businesses and taking lives as the powerful EF-4 storm spun through neighborhoods including Germantown and East Nashville.

Tennessean staffers who’d been sheltered in their basements – some of whom had their homes damaged or destroyed – grabbed equipment and got to work within minutes of the storm passing, venturing out into dark streets littered with debris and power lines to document what was unfolding in Middle Tennessee.

The breadth and depth of coverage the Tennessean provided in the coming weeks was unmatched but the tone was set in the chaotic and vital hours after the storm hit.

As the sun started to rise that morning, the full scope of the destruction started to become clear. As the deadly line of storms continued to churn east, seven total tornadoes were spawned, including several in Putnam County where 19 people were killed and another 88 were injured in the storm.

The death toll qualified the storms among the nation’s deadliest tornadoes this century and economic losses in the area were pegged at nearly $2 billion, staggering numbers that put the scope of the tragedy in some perspective, but in the hours, days and weeks after the storm struck the Tennessean’s team reacted with urgency and heart, telling the stories of the people who acted heroically to save their neighbors and of those whose lives would never be the same.

A storm chaser captured a photo of a tornado 4 miles east-northeast of Malden, Missouri, about 80 miles west of the Mississippi River from the northwestern corner of Tennessee. 

It lingered for about three minutes. 

Less than an hour later, the National Weather Service in Memphis issued a tornado warning for Camden, Tennessee, as a result of a supercell, a dangerous type of thunderstorm that can last hours and produce severe twisters.

Five minutes later, a tornado touched down in Camden in Benton County, about 80 miles west of Nashville.

Starting near Highway 69, it knocked down several trees and caused significant damage to multiple houses as it tore its way east. 

Carl Frazee, inside his mobile home near Ballard and Flatwoods roads, was thrown out outside. He landed in his yard, littered with broken trees and debris. 

Responders navigated through the yard to reach Frazee and another person living at the home, and carried the two to an ambulance to be rushed to the emergency room. 

Frazee, 67, died from "many injuries" at the hospital, authorities said. Two other residents sustained injuries. 

Along with Frazee’s demolished home, several others residences within a couple of miles suffered severe damage while many others throughout the area had missing shingles and downed tree limbs.

The storm then moved across the Tennessee River. Golf ball-sized hail began to fall as the storm increased in strength and volatility. 

It barreled toward Nashville at a particular dangerous time as many people slept. Nighttime tornadoes pose a greater danger to the public, likely resulting in more than twice as many fatalities as tornadoes that occur during the day, according to a study by University of Tennessee. 

Funnel clouds quickly formed.

“This is how tornadoes happen,” said Brendan Schaper, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “A lot of time in Middle Tennessee we see lines of strong to severe storms.

"Within those lines we can get quick little spin-ups. Those little quick spin-ups usually don’t offer us as much lead time because the tornadoes happen quickly and then they are gone.”

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Davidson, Sumner and Wilson counties.

Three minutes later, a twister touched down directly over the John C. Tune Airport, with radar picking up on debris from extensive damage at the airport, including the terminal, hangar and airfield. 

More than 90 aircraft are destroyed. Later, debris from the airport would be found miles away. 

Three minutes after that, the NWS warned of a "large and extremely dangerous" tornado near Nashville. 

A EF-2 tornado with winds of 125 mph passed north of the Tennessee State Capitol at 12:41 a.m. It blew out windows, overturned cars, broke gas lines and tangled power lines into a twisted mess.

In its wake, a path of destruction stretched through North Nashville and Germantown.

Rubble from collapsed homes stretched from Clay Street at Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard past Buchanan Street and Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School almost down to Jefferson Street.

Sixteenth Avenue North just off Cockrill Street appeared to be where the twister left some of the worst havoc.

The nearby Kroger gas station on Monroe Street sustained significant damage. Flipped shopping carts lined the parking lot. 

The storm left wires strewn across Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park and the neighboring Tennessee State Museum's lawn.

An EF-3 tornado hit East Nashville with winds of 136-140 mph — down a familiar path tornadoes had followed in 1933 and 1998. 

Neighboring boutique store Molly Green was completely wiped out, its once colorful bricks becoming a pile of rubble on the corner of McFerrin Avenue and Main Street. 

Patrons at bars at Five Points came out to walk the streets to see the path of destruction the tornado had left. A defunct Family Dollar, set to be renovated for a new bar, had been destroyed, along with Burger Up, where water spouted high in the sky. 

Siding, slabs of concrete and other building materials ripped from structures were scattered up and down Main Street. Victims of the storm included businesses old and new, run-down and upscale, name brands and mom-and-pop — all part of the growing East Nashville enclave. 

With wind speeds up to 165 mph the storm continued into Donelson and Hermitage at 12:53, where it nearly leveled an entire subdivision before reaching Mt. Juliet. 

The Donelson Christian Academy was torn apart, metal trailers moved hundreds of feet, trees uprooted and many lives shattered in an otherwise quiet community near Nashville’s airport. 

The destructive tornado left dozens of homes in the Donelson area torn to shreds.

In Mt. Juliet, roofs were torn off homes, schools nearly leveled and electric poles and trees downed. People were rescued from homes that had collapsed, just like others across Davidson and Wilson counties.

Less than 10 minutes later, an EF-1 tornado is confirmed just north of the Interstate 40 interchange in Lebanon heading east. It carved a path of destruction through Wilson County. 

Homes impacted by storm damage include areas around Central Pike, Triple Crown, Clearview, Old Lebanon Dirt Road and Pleasant Grove Road. 

Lebanon resident Jeremy Reeves tweeted a photo of a fax cover sheet he found cleaning up storm debris in his yard. It was from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville, 40 miles away. 

The storm caused extensive damage to West Wilson Middle and Stoner Creek Elementary schools. 

A severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado is located near Cookeville in Putnam County, about 80 miles east of Nashville.

The tornado struck highly populated subdivisions.

The tornado ravaged neighborhoods off Highway 70 between Baxter and Cookeville. It wiped out homes, reducing them to rubble, tossing around cars and rendering neighborhoods unrecognizable.

First indication that the storm had been deadly, as Nashville police announce two fatalities in East Nashville. 

Michael Dolfini, 36, and Albree Sexton, 33, were killed as they ran to their car from Attaboy Lounge, where Dolfini worked. 

As the sun rose, the extent of the damage left behind began to become clearer.

The lucky ones, who slept through the storm, woke up to the news of death and destruction.

Residents across impacted areas are asked to stay off the streets that are flooded, blocked with downed power lines and the rubble of destroyed buildings. 

Emergency personnel have already responded to specific neighborhoods, going door-to-door checking on residents. Neighbors look for missing friends and family.

Thousands are left without power. 

And the death toll rises.

James Eaton, 84, and Donna Eaton, 81, died at their home on Catalpa Drive in Mt. Juliet and Brandy Barker, 38, of Lebanon, was killed at a CEVA Logistics warehouse on Athletes Way North while working security.

In Putnam County, at least 18 people died, several among them children, and 88 were injured in a 2 mile stretch west of town — the highest death toll in the state from the storm.

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Over the coming weeks and months, Tennessean reporters worked tirelessly to chronicle the storm’s deadly impact and recovery efforts even as the pandemic took root in the state.

Coverage in the immediate aftermath focused on where people could go for help, scammers who were preying on victims and a presidential visit to tour the stricken area.

That’s where the story ended for many, as national attention turned to the looming pandemic and effort to fight COVID-19.

And while our efforts, like every other newsroom’s, began to focus more on the life-altering impact of the pandemic, we continued to offer essential, in-depth and investigative reporting to our local audience as the recovery from the tornadoes continued.

Our team created free live blogs daily for a week after the storm to bring essential news and information to local residents with information that ranged from when power might be restored to where you could safely park your vehicles during the clean-up and recovery efforts.

We focused on the storm’s long-term costs to Nashvillians (where a 32% property tax hike was tied to the tornadoes and political fallout followed) and residents of Middle Tennessee in general, touching on the local economic impact, how the storms, which swept through the area on Super Tuesday, would impact voting in the 2020 election and on steps community members could take to preserve their own mental health.

Our team-centered part of our coverage around a single Nashville community – an occasionally neglected strip on the city’s northern edge that became the target of land developers and speculators immediately after the storm – where we spent months chronicling the efforts to rebuild and preserve a sense of place in a world turned upside down.

And help, so much help, the outpouring from within the community to help one another, the tens of thousands of volunteers who mobilized for a massive clean-up effort the Saturday after the storm, the private businesses finding ways to offer assistance to others impacted by the storm. It was so overwhelming in Putnam County, one of the hardest-hit communities, that officials said they couldn’t handle it all: A great problem to have.

There was so much that the Tennessean created a Facebook group to connect donors with those in need, a page that continued to serve a purpose as COVID-19 spread through the community (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1568763433278495)

Through it all, we paid attention to the people impacted by the storm: On the high school girls basketball team whose members lost their homes but not their championship hopes; on pets whose families found them days later and those who found kindred sprits in rattled humans after the storm; on the role religion played in the efforts to rebuild shattered lives; on the attempts to preserve Middle Tennessee’s rich history and to continue chronicling the pivotal events that define us.

And finally, the inevitable collision of the pandemic in a community where 19 people were killed in the storm weeks earlier.

Contributing: Yihyun Jeong, Joel Ebert, Andy Humbles, Brandon Shields, Sandy Mazza, Gentry Estes and USA TODAY.