Oh, Hail

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, severe weather was heading our way late in the day. When the storms hit the Bellevue area (west of downtown and where I live), high winds roared and threw HUGE balls of hail around like styrofoam peanuts. The hail in the photo above is just a portion of what landed on our deck. The largest pieces were 2-inches in diameter, and the smallest ones were 3/4 in. in diameter. We are expecting two more lines of storms to come through the area before morning. . . .One is due to hit around 3, and another is due to hit a little later.


Severe storms and tornadoes attacked the entire state with a vengeance, leaving a path of destruction from west to east. Officials in the Memphis area had to move several polling places to get them out of the storm's path. Tornadoes hit the Jackson, TN around 7 PM, snapping metal power poles and devastating Union University. As I write this shortly before midnight, officials had finally rescued three women caught in the destruction of the women's dorm at the university. In Middle Tennessee, the storms caused a lot of damage in Fairview and a few other smaller towns, and a gas main has blown, causing a huge fire in Sumner County. Worst of all, we have had at least 4 fatalities in the state confirmed at this point.

Meteorologists are saying this is a "significant tornado event" around the Middle Tennessee area, and they expect more damage with the arrival of the additional storms. I'll get out tomorrow and see what kind of damage I can find.

Glad we had the shingles we lost last week replaced. Hopefully, they stayed up during the winds today! ;-)

UPDATE: Sumner County, which is north of Metro Davidson County (Nashville), and Williamson County, which is south of Davidson County, were hit hard by last night's storms. There are were over 24 fatalities (5 in Sumner County) and 150 injuries statewide. To see photos of the damage to the area, click here.