NWS tours Smithville tornado damage while residents clean up

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The majority of the tornado damage in Smithville from Monday afternoon’s EF1 tornado is along Allen Ferry Road. People who live there spent Tuesday cleaning up downed trees and debris.

“I was looking across the field, and I started seeing debris start flying into the air,” said Rick Pedersen, whose house was affected by the tornado. “It was really pretty quick. It wasn’t all that noisy, other than a lot of stuff hitting the house.”

Pedersen said debris from neighboring buildings damaged the shingles on his roof, and trees fell down in his yard. Outside of that, there is no damage to his house. In contrast, firefighters said a home down the road on North Congress Boulevard will need to be demolished.

Much of the debris came from Pedersen’s neighbor’s house, whose detached garage was demolished by the tornado.

“I come out and looked and seen out here my garage is gone,” Willie Moser said. “It’s just devastating as you can see. It’s awful.”

Stutts Electric worked down the road to restore power to a home where several fallen trees had snapped power lines.

“As soon as we get the trees out of the way, we’re good to go. Just work at it until it gets done,” Brian Putnam with Stutts Electric said.

The homeowner shared that the fallen trees had crushed her shed and dog houses, but fortunately her two dogs survived.

As residents started the cleanup, they were wary of looming clouds expected to bring more severe weather.

“They say lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. Hopefully tornadoes don’t hit in the same place. We’ll see,” said Pedersen.

The National Weather Service reported tornado winds as high as 100 miles per hour, but fortunately, no injuries were reported.

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