Tennessee Takes a Deadly Beating from Tornadoes

One survivor, an 11-month old baby boy, surprised rescue workers who assumed he was a doll, until he moved.

Tennessee tornado destruction Photo courtesy: Tennessee Emergency Management

(NASHVILLE) - Tennessee experienced at least two waves of severe weather that ranged from high-winds and hail to deadly tornadoes. As of 7:15 PM Wednesday, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reported 31 confirmed fatalities related to the storm activity.

Those deaths, recorded by the Tennessee Department of Health, occurred in the following counties: Shelby, Fayette, Hardin, Macon, Madison, Sumner and Trousdale. More than 149 people have been reported as being injured and one person is presumed missing.

In one case an 11-month old baby boy was recovered after the tornado destroyed his home and killed his mother. Rescue crew workers walking through the strewn debris thought the small child was a doll, until it moved. The 11-month old boy whose name is Kyson, was discovered around flattened homes, bricks from a blown-apart post office and snapped trees, a devastating scene similar to so many communities across the South.

The State Emergency Operations Center in Nashville was activated by TEMA’s Director James Bassham Tuesday night at 6:30 PM CST as the storms began a deadly march across the state from Memphis through Middle Tennessee.

The storm caused several crashes, but the most severe was located West of Jackson, Tennessee, on Interstate 40. These crashes, which involved more than 25 tractor-trailers, temporarily closed the highway in both directions.

In Memphis, the storm released more than 120,000 lbs. of anhydrous ammonia when a tank was ruptured at the Hardy Bottling Company on East Rains. This release to the atmosphere poses no risk to the public.

At Union University in Madison Co., 16 students were temporarily trapped in a dormitory after it was struck by a tornado. More than 30 people were transported to the Jackson-Madison Hospital.

A fire from a natural gas pipeline at the Columbia Gulf Transmission Co. facility in Hartsville, Tennessee, was highly visible for much of the night. The fire, which has now burned out, reports indicated flames at one time reaching as high as 400 to 500 feet into the air due to the pressurized nature of the long-distance transmission pipeline.