22 Dead After Tornado Sweeps Through Nashville Overnight
Twenty two people are dead after a tornado swept through the Nashville area overnight.
According to NBC News, a tornado struck the Nashville area in the early morning hours on Tuesday (March 3), killing at least eight people and hitting the trendy East Nashville area of the city especially hard. The number would soon be pushed to nine and then 19 as of 10AM CT, per the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). By Tuesday afternoon 22 had been confirmed as dead.
Various accounts on the news and social media describe downed power lines, huge trees that have been uprooted, homes and at least 40 buildings damaged in downtown Nashville, East Nashville and Germantown. Storms also swept central Tennessee.
Watch: Carrie Underwood's Kids Hid In Safe Room During Nashville Tornado
"A tornado skipped across the county," Nashville Mayor John Cooper tells Nashville's Tennessean newspaper. "You do have people at the hospital and frankly there have been fatalities."
NBC reports that schools, courts and transit lines are closed all over the area, and authorities are telling citizens to remain indoors and not to travel unless it's necessary. Some polling stations have been moved as the city is forced to make last-minute changes in plans for Super Tuesday voting in areas that have been impacted.
Among the buildings that have been destroyed is the Basement East, a very popular music venue in East Nashville. The Five Points area of East Nashville appears to have been impacted especially badly, and staff members were forced to take shelter in the basement of the venue during the storms. All of the staff members are safe, but the building is partially destroyed, though its famous "I Believe in Nashville" mural remains untouched.
See the Damage From the 2020 Nashville Tornado