Nashville area tornadoes kill at least 23

Tornadoes touched down across Tennessee on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people and leaving an undetermined number missing, according to authorities. Tennessee is now under a state of emergency. 

The death toll was nine Tuesday morning but jumped to 23 by midday, as bodies were recovered from fallen buildings, according to Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

People are still missing across the state, according to officials. They would not provide a number of the missing on Tuesday morning, as search and rescue crews are still working. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said at a press conference that the number of fatalities will likely increase by the end of the day. 

“Last night is a reminder of how fragile life is,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said at the press conference.

The devastation comes on the same day that Tennessee participates in the Super Tuesday presidential primary when more than 30% of all delegates will be awarded. Officials said at a press conference Tuesday that the tornadoes damaged 15 out of 169 polling places. 

Just hours before voting is set to begin, the state’s election commission has created alternative places for people assigned to the damaged polling locations to vote. Officials encouraged residents to check whether their polling place is affected. 

The tornadoes destroyed at least 48 buildings, and have left about 50,000 customers without power, according to officials. One tornado ripped through downtown Nashville and hit the city’s CBS affiliate WTVF directly. There were still 43,000 customers without power at 4:30 p.m. ET.

A home is shown destroyed by high winds from one of several tornadoes that tore through the state overnight on March 3, 2020, in Cookeville, Tennessee. Brett Carlsen / Getty

The tornadoes caused significant damage because of their strength. The National Weather Service estimated that a tornado that hit the city Mount Juliet and Donelson, Tennessee, was “at least” an EF-3, which indicates a “severe” tornado caused by 136 to 165 mile an hour winds.

“In order to collapse buildings, as this did, it had to be an EF-3 or an EF-4,” said CBS News Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli. 

According to Berardelli, the tornadoes’ severity was caused by the collision of strong winds of 150 miles per hour coming from the west at the upper levels of the atmosphere — near 30,000 feet up — with much weaker winds on the ground level pushing up from the south. 

In addition to the upper-level jet stream, there was an associated low-level jet stream carrying hurricane-force winds — 75 miles per hour — also coming from the west. According to Berardelli, while the triple-digit wind in the upper jet stream contributed to the tornado, the westward wind at the lower level was likely the bigger assist.

“So you literally have a 90-degree angle in the atmosphere: Winds at the surface blowing from the south, winds at the upper atmosphere blowing directly from the west,” he said.

The difference in wind speed and direction from the upper levels to the ground created something called “wind shear.” Wind shear puts a “spin” on the atmosphere and clouds which pass through it. That spinning motion whips up supercell thunderstorms and drops tornadoes. 

“When you have a jet stream of 150 to 170 miles an hour aloft, these storms will bring that wind smack right down to the ground, and that’s what happened,” Berardelli said.

Why the Tennessee tornadoes were so damaging

A video posted online from east Nashville showed what appeared to be a well-defined funnel moving quickly across the city. Lightning repeatedly flashed while much of the city was in the dark. The whir of the wind could be heard gusting after the tornado moved out of sight.

The city’s emergency operations center has been activated, and an emergency shelter is set up. Residents have been urged to stay off the roads in order to avoid downed power lines, as some 74,000 homes and businesses were without electricity.

Schools have been closed for the day but a majority of the polling stations for the Super Tuesday primary are staying open.

The tornado that hit downtown Nashville reportedly stayed on the ground into Hermitage, a neighborhood about 10 miles east. The city’s historic Germantown neighborhood suffered significant damage. 

A man looks over buildings destroyed by storms Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn.  Mark Humphrey / AP

WTVF called that damage in the Nashville area “stunning.” Nashville Mayor John Cooper wrote on Twitter that the “community has been devastated.”

“Nashville is hurting,” he wrote. “… My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones. Be sure to lend a helping hand to a neighbor in need, and let’s come together as a community once more. Together, we will get through this and come out stronger.”

Parts of Tennessee State University’s campus were damaged by a tornado, but the school is on spring break.  

A reported gas leak forced an evacuation of the IMT building in Germantown, according to WSMV-TV. Photos showed dozens of people in the street carrying their belongings not long after the tornado moved through the city. 

Governor Lee said on Twitter that the state “has activated a strong coordinated response effort to last night’s devastating storms.”

“In the hours ahead, we will continue deploying search and rescue teams, opening shelters across the state, and sending emergency personnel to our communities hit hardest.”