Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Severe Weather Hits Tennessee

Aired April 07, 2006 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Lots of tornado activity taking place throughout Tennessee. Let's check in again with Reynolds Wolf.
(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Wow, definitely a very busy day weatherwise. And, in fact, you know, the strange thing that happens a lot of times in these situations, Reynolds, with -- associated with tornadoes, you also sometimes see some hail activity, which we are already starting to get some pictures in right now of some hail activity taking place in Joelton, Tennessee. These pictures are in now from WZTV.

And as you heard Reynolds reporting a bit earlier, the tornado watches remain in effect until 8:00 p.m. Central time for many states, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri. But for now these are the pictures that are coming in from Tennessee. We're already at least three reports of tornadoes touching down in the Tennessee north of the Nashville area are already reported, and right now here in Joelton, Tennessee, you are seeing evidence of hail.

We'll continue to keep a close watch on the severe weather picture now affecting the southeast but likely as we've heard from Reynolds -- we're going to back to him, in fact.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Meantime, on the phone with us, Reid Bell . He's a D.J. who is in Tennessee who just happened to drive through one of those reported tornadoes. He's on the line with us now. Originally from the Camden, Tennessee, area.

So, Reid, how accustomed are you to this kind of weather?

REID BELL, DROVE THROUGH TORNADO: Well, we have warnings a lot. I have never seen a tornado in my 63 years, and my first experience I was in one. It was just like in the movies. A lot of suction, my ears wanted to suck in like you're on an airplane. Quiet, a lot of debris blowing around me, parts of a roof -- the tin or whatever you call it, the metal roofing -- and trash.

My truck was being blown to the right of the highway as it was coming from the west. I was headed north. And the biggest thing that scared me, there was no rain at the time and I saw about six power lines, telephone poles falling toward me. And ...

WHITFIELD: Now, what area were you in during this drive? BELL: I was just leaving Interstate 40 on Highway 641. So I was in the town of Holladay, Tennessee, which is one of the towns in our county, here in Benton County. Power lines did -- what gave me the biggest fright, of course. I wanted to get away from those.

And the tornado was, I guess, quite small by comparison. So that's why, you know, I did make it through and I was speaking to God most of the time during all of that, also.

WHITFIELD: Wow, you did a great job describing what you felt. So what did you see, exactly? Are we talking about, you know, getting -- the skies getting very dark and very ominous looking?

BELL: We had some ominous clouds spotted in the more lighter clouds. And -- but this was kind of a yellowy tint to it and, of course, doing the spinning. And with all the trash inside I guess that could be part of the color of it.

WHITFIELD:: So were you listening to the radio or reports? Did you kind of know that you were driving into a potentially dangerous situation?

BELL: Yes, I was, actually. I was coming home from vacation. I was listening to the radio station that I work at, actually, and listening to the reports and one -- they had just reported one was in my area, in Holladay. So, obviously, I was looking around for it and I saw it.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, Reid Bell, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us. And we're glad that you're able to tell us you did fine while driving through that very scary experience of the tornadic activity in the town of Holiday, Tennessee.

And of course, we're going to have more on this severe weather now hitting the southeast part of this country right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, Charlotte is one of the Tennessee cities that is already experiencing the touchdown of a tornado, at least one tornado.

Mayor Linda Frazier is on the line with us now. And Ms. Mayor, what do you see? What's happening in your town?

LINDA FRAZIER, MAYOR, DICKSON COUNTY, TENN.: Well, and as far as the city of Charlotte in itself, we do not have damage here, but it -- we have damage on Highway 49 East, which is between Charlotte and Ashland City. We have homes damaged. We do have some injuries already being reported. And the injured people that they could get to have already been transported to the hospital. We've got trees across the highway, on Highway 49 east, and at the present time not able to get all the way through to really assess the damage.

WHITFIELD: And now what about the injuries you mentioned? What do you know about them? FRAZIER: I really do not know anything. All I know is they have been transported to the hospital or they have been taken care of. But I do not know the severity of those injuries.

WHITFIELD: How unusual is it for your area to experience tornadic activity like this?

FRAZIER: Really it's not very unusual at all. We've had straight line winds that did damage a year ago in I believe it was January or February. The children were out of school and we were just fortunate that day that they were out of school, because we had straight line wind damage to our Dickson County High School. So it's not unusual for us to have some damage.

WHITFIELD: Is it different in this case, however, that it's taking place in daylight hours? So often we're reporting on tornadoes that hit overnight.

FRAZIER: Not really, because the damage that we had to the school a year ago was really kind of around daybreak. It was early morning hours whenever that hit and came through.

WHITFIELD: All right. And how concerned are you about trying to get to the people who might be in need that you don't necessarily know about right now?

FRAZIER: Well, we're very concerned about that. And our EMA is en route and responding to those people as quickly as they can get through. They have -- our EMA director has called in everyone that is supposed to respond in this type of an incident. And we are working feverishly to get through to the people to be able to assess the damage and to get to anybody who will be in need of shelter or whatever else their needs may be.

WHITFIELD: All right, we wish you the best, mayor. Linda Frazier of Charlotte, Tennessee there, in Dickson County.

FRAZIER: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.

And I want to continue a look at our affiliate coverage, WTVF. This report filed from Amy Rao just recently.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMY RAO, WTVF REPORTER: Well, right now it's he extremely cloudy over here. We're at the Metro Baptist Church, and you can only see one side of the church right now. The other side is -- I mean, the steeple is up there and there are pieces of the roof all over the trees around here. Probably for a good half mile radius, are littered with yellow building materials, styrofoam. There are several cars that we've seen that have flipped over on the interstate.

We're basically on I-65 off of Longhollow (ph) Pike. There are guardrails down over here and metal sheeting all throughout the grass area. We're seeing people are outside right now, taking a look at the damage. We have no reports of any injuries, but apparently confirmed tornado in this area.

Lots of tree limbs everywhere and there are several signs in the area, these businesses along Rivergate (ph) Parkway, where these signs are on the ground in the road right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amy, tell me again -- I just want to reiterate. Number one, this storm is now going through Gallatin, now moving on the east side of Gallatin. This is a storm that came through the Goodlettsville area just a little while ago. You're -- did I hear you say that you -- what did you say about automobiles in that area?

RAO: Well, we've seen several that are either to the side of the road or flipped over, and several damage to cars along the interstate here on I-65. We're also seeing what appears to be very large, dark clouds to the west of us. We're not sure at that point if those are just dark clouds or if we're actually seeing the tornado moving out of here. But people are -- have stopped on the interstate right now and are just...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're looking kind of up the interstate there, is it kind of probably to the north, maybe just a little bit northwest?

RAO: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is another storm that is rotating. We don't have confirmation of a touchdown with that. But that is another storm. But right now not showing near the rotation that the other storm did. So you have seen cars flipped over off the side of Interstate 65 there in the Goodlettsville area.

RAO: We have. And mainly the damage, it looks like it hit this one Metro Baptist Church right head on. I mean, you can -- we can see the inside of the church here. The whole three sides of it are completely caved in, and just looks like -- it just looks like sheets of metal have come down. And these trees just have all -- just have building equipment, styrofoam, all over them. And right now there you can hear metro fire department, who is now on the scene and there are several...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That report coming from our affiliate WTVF. Meantime, our severe weather coverage does continue. More of LIVE FROM next.

But first, Jennifer Westhoven with a look at life after work.

BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY COUSE, RETIREE: I have my tent, my sleeping bag, ground sheet and air mattress in here. I have my clothes over here. JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These small bags are all that Gary Couse is taking with him. Starting at the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, Gary and his fellow riders are headed cross country to Florida.

COUSE: We are going to St. Augustine so it will be about two months to get there. We will average about 60 miles a day. So it will be six or eight hours a day.

WESTHOVEN: Gary started biking near his home in Georgia after he retired as an engineer. This is his second try riding across the USA.

COUSE: I went down a hill too fast and couldn't make a curve at the bottom of the hill and ran off the road and ended up breaking some bones in my face when I went off the bike. And that was the end of that trip. So I definitely decided I wanted to do it again.

WESTHOVEN: He uses special maps from the Adventure Cycling Association to plan each day's route, showing the sites and where to stop for the night.

COUSE: We have 10 to go.

You do see a lot that you normally wouldn't see when you are riding a bike because of the slower speed. Last year I saw an illegal sneaking across the road one day with a jug of water. Just different things like that you wouldn't see otherwise in a car or a plane.

During your working life, you really can't afford the time. Now that I'm retired, it's a great thing to be able to do it.

WESTHOVEN: Jennifer Westhoven, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: With more on our look at severe weather. With tornadoes often comes a warning from hail and this is what we're looking at right now in Joelton, Tennessee. You're seeing what appear to be, I think Reynolds was describing maybe nickel or even quarter- size hail there dropping. And we're already hearing reports of many tornadoes touching down in various parts of Tennessee. Let's check in again with Reynolds Wolf. What is going on again, exactly?

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Wow, affecting a lot of states there. Thanks so much, Reynolds. Well on the line with us, Cecil Redditt. He's in Collierville, Tennessee, which is near Memphis. And he's a witness to some hail in that area. So Cecil, what have you been seeing?

CECIL REDDITT, SEVERE WEATHER WITNESS (on phone): Well about 11:30, we had reports -- we were under a thunderstorm warning. We have been under a tornado watch all day. About 11:30, 11:40, just very rapidly a cell appeared almost with very little time or warning and received quite a bit of hail, wind. We've had areas in Collierville with hail the size of -- larger than golf ball. And we have had some reports of hail, about three to five miles northeast.

WHITFIELD: And Cecil, we're looking at a picture that you took, right, you collected some golf-ball size hail and put it on a dish and took a few pictures for us.

REDDITT: Yes, ma'am, that's correct. And considerable amount of hail. The FedEx worldwide headquarters, which is located just southwest of Collierville, we have heard -- not been confirmed yet, but we have heard that they've had some pretty severe roof damage on their new complex southwest of Collierville.

WHITFIELD: When's the last time you remember seeing hail of this size in your area?

REDDITT: In our area it's been many years in this size hail here. Like I said it was -- just almost, just very little time to respond. The sirens did go off in Shelby County and in Memphis, Shelby County and in our area.

WHITFIELD: And so what do you do when you hear those sirens? When you hear about the impending danger of a tornado coming to your area, what's your plan of attack? What do you do?

REDDITT: Well actually I am a storm spotter. I'm an amateur radio operator and usually we're monitoring many hours in advance. And we advise people to immediately take cover. The location that I work at is a large chemical facility. And we give advance notice and get those people to safe areas immediately, not waiting to visually see anything.

As soon as the sirens go off, as soon as we get the warnings or any sightings are reported, they go immediately to secure areas.

WHITFIELD: For the most part, do you think people do heed the warnings?

REDDITT: I think more and more they are. And as a result of the severe weather that we received here this past Sunday, across Arkansas, Tennessee, we had 24 deaths in Tennessee, just this past Sunday. It's got everybody's attention.

They actually were -- unfortunately they were letting the kids out of school at noon. They were anticipating this to hit us in the afternoon and the kids were actually leaving the school building when the storm hit.

WHITFIELD: Well Cecil, we are so glad you're able to share your stories with us. And stay safe and thanks for keeping us abreast on the severe weather now in the southeast, specifically in a good part of Tennessee.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield, now time for "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com