(RUTHERFORD COUNTY) Friday's storms brought heavy damage and a storm-related death in Middle Tennessee, but Rutherford County had mostly downed trees and fences. Two persons are confirmed dead in Middle Tennessee as a result of the storms.
WGNS Back On-The-Air
Thanks to MTE crews, WGNS' on-air FM and AM signals in Murfreesboro and Smyrna were re-stored late Friday night. For Good Neighbor Station Listeners who receive the local programming on their smart phones or computers, that service was not interupted and continued.
Middle Tennessee Electric's Amy Byers said, "Not only was the radio station's tower and transmitter site without power until late Friday night, but so were 12-thousand local customers in this area.
Data from Middle Tennessee Electric showed that this widespread storm created outages throughout its multi-county service area (Rutherford, Williamson, Cannon and Coffee counties). That represented over 142,000 customers.
In this case, the repair work did not only include damage to infrastructure like downed power lines, but it included large trees and debris blown into the lines. As a result, before the lines could be repaired and electricity restored--the trees had to be physically removed.
Byers underscored, "There is always the possibility that some customers may be without power and MTE might not know about it. This happens when the electricity connection going into your home has been disconnected by falling trees and other debris."
She stressed that it is important for everyone to phone their 24/7 emergency outage phone number: 877-777-9020. More information about the area's power from MTE is on their FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/MidTnElectric .
Data shows that of all Middle Tennessee Electric's service area there are approximately 2,000 customers still without power. Neighboring Williamson County had the largest number of MTE clients without power.
Rutherford County Damage
A large century old tree fell onto a beautiful home on Clark Boulevard while large privacy fences were flattened by wind gusts in the River View community.
The Rutherford County Highway Department was busy clearing large trees that were toppled by high winds in the Sulphur Springs Road, Leanna Road, Stewarts Creek and Rhett Drive area of Smyrna.
Trees fell on power lines and took out the electricity to homes in the Milton, Rockvale areas.
In the downtown Murfreesboro area, strong gusts toppled trees. In fact, one century old tree adjacent to the Murfree Spring wetlands was toppled by a powerful gust and it downed the MTE power lines that run to the WGNS radio tower sight. Quick work by Middle Tennessee Electric got the Good Neighbor Station back on-the-air quickly to provide emergency reports for the community.
Mid State Damage/ 2 Fatalities
That was not the case in other parts of Middle Tennessee. A Humphreys County resident on Little Blue River Creek Road was killed by the storm. A tree fell on his car in McEwen. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said that the man in the vehicle was impaled and died at the accident scene. The deceased male's nephew was in the car as well, but survived and is hospitalized.
Another storm-related death is confirmed in Hendersonville. An elderly Pleasantview Drive woman was walking with a friend when a tree fell and killed her.
Throughout the Metro Nashville Statistical Area (MSA), power outages from the severe storm surpassed 147,000 electricty customers--both residential and businesses. Officials say it could still be several days before power is 100 per cent restored.
In Clarksville heavy winds turned over 18-wheeler big rigs traveling on I-24.
In neighboring Nashville, air traffic at Metro International Airport was stalled due to the high winds prior to 3:00PM Friday afternoon.
Scaffolding from the rear of the Frist Museum of Arts on Broadway in Music City was blown into the Union Train Station parking lot next door.
Metro Police report that a woman received minor injuries when the roof of a Dickerson Road business was blown off and it slammed into her car.
