Deadly Tornadoes Strike Nashville, Damaging CRE, Dwellings And Infrastructure
Tornadoes ravaged parts of Tennessee early Tuesday morning, killing at least 22 people and destroying numerous buildings. The winds were spawned by a line of severe storms from central Alabama to western Pennsylvania.
No total estimate for damage to property has been tallied yet, but single-family houses, apartments, retail and other commercial properties were all reported damaged or destroyed. Infrastructure including roads, bridges and utilities also suffered.
Davidson County, which includes Nashville, was particularly hard hit, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, including severe damage in the city's Germantown and East Nashville neighborhoods, which have been hubs of growth in recent years.
Also badly damaged by the tornado strikes were Wilson County, east of Nashville, and Putnam County, farther to the east. Putnam County experienced the most fatalities, with 16 known so far. Three people died in Wilson County, two in Davidson County and one in Benton County, TEMA reports.
In East Nashville, well-known music venue Basement East was destroyed, as were other nearby businesses, including restaurants BoomBozz and Burger Up, clothing store Molly Green and a closed Family Dollar store, the Nashville Post reports.
Other commercial and residential properties in the neighborhood were reported destroyed or severely damaged, including the historic East End United Methodist Church. East Nashville, long a depressed part of town, has experienced rapid growth recently with the addition of new shops and restaurants.
At Basement East, the wind spared part of a wall that included a Nashville-themed mural. The image of the still-standing wall was widely shared on social media.
At a legendary music venue in East Nashville, the building was nearly destroyed, but the iconic “I believe in Nashville” mural remains.
— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) March 3, 2020
It’s a sign of hope and redemption that made it through a night of terror. #NashvilleTornado pic.twitter.com/0qDAyIznWI
In Germantown, winds destroyed Geist, a restaurant located in one of the city's oldest commercial buildings, the Nashville Post reports, adding that apartment buildings in the area were also heavily damaged.
In recent years, Germantown has been a growth mecca in Nashville with the addition of apartments, retail and restaurants in an area that was an old industrial zone only a few decades ago.
The minor league Nashville Sounds relocated to a new stadium in the district in 2015, and the Tennessee State Museum opened its new facility there in 2018. There have been no reports of damage to those places, though Geist is only about three blocks to the east of the museum.
One of our helicopters just landed after surveying tornado destruction from overnight. pic.twitter.com/XmBpbOmBuf
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) March 3, 2020
At John C. Tune Airport in Nashville, the state's largest general aviation airport, the tornado knocked down at least four hangars and scattered jets and single-engine aircraft among the ruins, Aviation News reports.
The storm also damaged buildings in the Nashville suburbs of Mount Juliet, Lebanon and Hermitage, which are in Wilson County.
“Our community has been impacted significantly,” the Mount Juliet Police Department tweeted. "There are multiple homes damaged and multiple injuries."
