Damage in downtown Nashville, TN | Photo by Beth Metcalf, WSU Student
Wright State students on vacation in Nashville for spring break have begun posting to social media marking themselves ‘safe,’ after a tornado touched down early Tuesday morning.
Approaching a year since the Memorial Day tornadoes in the Miami Valley students are once again letting their friends and family know they are safe from tornado destruction.
In a press conference by the Tennessee State Government Emergency Management, director Tyler Smith confirmed there were 25 people killed across four counties.
There were multiple groups of students who took a trip to the Nashville area for Wright State’s spring break.
Damage in downtown Nashville, TN | Photo by Beth Metcalf, WSU Student
Students woke up this morning to find a long trail of damage and power outages.
Wright State students Beth Metcalf and Allan Herrera were in downtown Nashville when the storm cell approached.
Metcalf was tracking the tornadoes unsure if they would touch down but monitoring them.
"I track tornadoes and we were in downtown Nashville when I found that a big supercell was on its way. We Ubered back to our car (which was parked just outside of the mass devastation area) and as we were driving to the Airbnb the sirens went off," Metcalf said. "I started screaming and speeding down the road because conditions were horrifying and similar to the Dayton tornadoes. [We] made it to our Airbnb just in time to go downstairs and wait it out."
The place they were staying was 10 minutes away from the destruction at Five Points.
In the aftermath of the storm, Metcalf said the destruction was reminiscent of the Memorial Day tornadoes.
"Walking around the area reminded us of the Dayton tornadoes, but worse," Metcalf said. "We were there when the Dayton tornadoes hit and even saw two of them come down on Memorial Day. We walked around the next day looking at the destruction, and this Nashville destruction was just horrifically similar, yet worse."
According to The Associated Press, at least 40 buildings sustained significant damage to the downtown area of Nashville, including a historic church, leaving hundreds of people homeless.
"The place we had dinner the night before was hit," Metcalf said. "Everyone seemed somber walking around just stepping over debris and wires. Fire hydrants were gushing and it was just such a sad sight to see. Our hearts break for the people of Nashville, especially because we know what it’s like to have such devastation in our hometown."
Damage in downtown Nashville, TN | Photo by Beth Metcalf, WSU Student
Just five minutes away, Wright State senior, Sam Pastrana and her friend were asleep in their hotel room, at the Millennium Maxwell House.
According to Pastrana, they woke to their phones going off informing them there was a tornado warning.
'We got lucky'
"We were attempting to contact our parents to figure out what to do," Pastrana said. "My dad told us to just stay away from the window. And then as soon as I hung up our power went out."
As Pastrana and her friend got dressed and exited their room, they ran into others making their way to the lobby area.
"We put clothes on and were trying to find the stairs when we ran into some British guys. So we finally found the eight stairs that didn’t lead outside. We waited in the lobby and talked and watched the wind outside," Pastrana said. "Today we drove to Gatlinburg and all the lights and power were out. As we got further out we realized how serious it was."
Pastrana and her friend drove past semis overturned, guard rails ripped from the ground and trees littering the road.
The hotel they stayed in received minimal damage.
"We got lucky, but down the road light poles were ripped up," Pastrana said.
Storm seen several hours away
Destiny Ellars, WSU sophomore was several hours away from the affected area but still saw the storm roll through.
“It just started to rain this morning around 1 a.m. with some thunder and lightning,” Ellars said. “When I went to bed it was just looking like a storm. I woke up and heard there was a tornado. The river behind our cabin is brown with mud. Here it just looks like a storm and not really any damage just a lot of mud. It’s weird thinking there was a tornado so close to us on spring break but our group is safe so that’s what I’m thankful for.”
“Last night was a reminder about how fragile life is,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said at a Tuesday morning news conference according to AP.
Damage in downtown Nashville, TN | Photo by Beth Metcalf, WSU Student
