NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly 72 hours after deadly tornadoes slammed the Nashville area and Middle Tennessee leaving 24 people dead, the clean up effort is underway.
It will be no small feat and many communities will never look the same.
WREG’s Shay Arthur visited north Nashville, one of the hardest hit areas, where she said you could see roofs that had been blown off homes. There was so much debris piled up on the side of the road it was nearly impassable.
There were makeshift campfires along with snacks and water for people in need. Some of them have been forced to sleep in tents.
The twister tossed trees and tore through homes.
“I mean I heard it coming through the window like, shush, shush, shush,” said north Nashville resident Lullar Berry.
Hundreds of pummeled power lines had to be replaced in order to restore power to the tens of thousands without power.
Up the road in the Nashville suburb of Mt. Juliet, school administrators were forced to figure out how students would finish the rest of the year after several schools suffered severe damage.
In Putnam County, they started cleaning up on Thursday after an EF-4 tornado with winds up to 175 miles per hour leveled the community.
Hundreds of volunteers helped in the effort. People like Skip Ritter, who was just trying to do something to help.
“Well we’re trying to help our neighbors. Got a lot of people out here that are trying to help one another. They need water and they need refreshments, snacks and things like that.”
But in the wake of the heartache and hurt, no matter where the tornado touched, people WREG talked to found their own way to be thankful.
“We’re blessed with this vehicle, we’re blessed to be safe, blessed to be here.”
