Castailian Springs and Macon County Tornado Damage (Portland: how much, houses)

[TNNative]

Yesterday I volunteered for my first tornado cleanup effort of the tornado that ravaged the rural countryside of Middle Tennessee's Castalian Springs in Sumner County. Sumner County had asked for volunteers and the people turned out in hundreds, proving once again that no matter what color jersey we support in sports, we TRULY are a Volunteer state.

Television reports cannot comprehend the damage these people have experienced. Showing pictures as wide as a television screen cannot show the vastness of the eye when you stand and look around you to see the aftermath. Showing the aerial views looks like scattered trash on the ground, whereas standing in the midst shows you something much more sacred....this was a family's life's possessions....not just rubble.

As we approached the disaster site the images were mind-boggling. Tin wrapped around trees, clothes hanging from trees and large trees laid down as if Godzilla had crushed them like grass. Cars mangled in yards as if they had been in a severe car crash, only damaged by a storm.

As we got to the site, it was surreal. An untouched house sitting atop a hill the had an overview of where four houses in front of it were swept away.... scrubbed from the face of the earth. Now there were bricks thrown all over the place. Pictures still hung on the wall in the basement,if what was someone's basement but the upstairs of the house was wiped away. Next door, was evident that a house had been there by the stepping stones that led to a patio connected to a brick rectangle on the ground. The remainer of the items there looked like someone had run household items through a shredded and then dumped them around the ground. On the opposite side of where a house had sat was a once new vehicle as if it had been thrown thru the house. We soon found out that the 52 year old woman that lived there died and was being buried as we worked. No volunteer was unaffected by that thought, and the backaches we were feeling was replaced by the heartbreak for a family only few there knew.

Next door, across the street and as far as you could see across the fields on this rural area looked as if an airplane had dropped large confetti. Video tape ripped from VHS shells waved from the trees and the briars looked like they were growing cotton, but it was only housing insulation of homes that were literally blown to bits. The volunteers worked with detemination, with kind couteousy to everyone they bumped, or walked in front of. Some ladies from a church stopped by to drop off sandwiches for lunch; strangers pulled up with Bobcats, backhoes, chainsaws and dump trucks asking "do you need our help" ? Teenagers came in school buses and worked as hard as any grown people there.

In all of this, I remember last Tuesday as we prepared our interior bathroom for shelter while listening to the storm warnings. I remember looking at the clock around that time and when I kept hearing warnings in Sumner County, I remember thinking "still?", wondering why it appeared the storm was lingering there. After the warnings passed I finally went to sleep and breathed a sigh of relief. As normal Tennesseans, we've heard them so many times and then the next day look at a area hit and think how sad that is, the emotions stir within us and then fade away. Yesterday was different. Although I thought so many times before how my two hands couldn't make much difference, the four thousand hands that worked yesterday did and our souls learned new lessons of compassion.

Today, my respect for the tornado's fury and how much damage it can do was enhanced. Tornades have no prejudice or preference. And there will be others. Next time it could be your home, or family that is touched, so please PAY IT FORWARD and find a way to help these people. 54 people lost their lives that night in five states. In a few seconds their houses and some lives were gone. Please keep them in your prayers.

Please, if you are reading this, find a way to make a difference when storms like this pass through our state or other's lives. These are our neighbors, our friends that we just haven't met yet. They need help, not just this week, but for weeks to come. Their lives have been changed forever.

[LeeB]

Wow........ Wish we were closer... We are in California and will be moving to Portland in April

TNNative I want to say thanks for the article...

[BNB]

TNNaitve, your report brought tears to my eyes...and made me so proud that I will soon call TN my home. The people are what sold us on TN. Everything else wonderful about this state is just icing on the cake.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by BNB

TNNaitve, your report brought tears to my eyes...and made me so proud that I will soon call TN my home. The people are what sold us on TN. Everything else wonderful about this state is just icing on the cake.

One of the areas had so many people coming in to help them clean up that they had to turn volunteers away.

[Diane Giam]

This entire article made me cry. I know my church sent a truckload of supplies there. They also said if we donate 100% will go to the people that were involved in the tornado.

Diane