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RUTHERFORD, TN (News First) – Damage reports are starting to come in along the path of the confirmed tornado that struck Northwest Tennessee and portions of Western Kentucky, Saturday, including Fort Campbell and Clarksville, where damage is apparently extensive enough that emergency services in Bowling Green, Ky are on standby to respond to the damaged area.
Reports of the Rutherford Fire Department Building (pictured above), and unconfirmed reports of injuries are beginning to become known. Several houses appear to be hit on Summers Road in Dresden. Personnel are trying to get their way to that area. According to The Weakly Times, multiple homes and businesses are damaged, and emergency responders are having a difficult time trying to get to injured individuals due to storm damage.
There are unconfirmed reports that Highway 45 west and a good portion of Rutherford is blocked off by law-enforcement.
Multiple powerlines down pic.twitter.com/K68OsFAAJG
— Ethan Goad (@ethangoad23) December 9, 2023
Rutherford is a town in Gibson County, TN with a population of just over 1100 people.
Meanwhile in Clarksville, a large tornado was captured on multiple videos going through the northern part of the city and possibly portions of Fort Campbell before the storm moved into southern Todd County, Ky.
2:52 PM: Thousands are without power in Clarksville:
It is unknown how many customers are without power inside Fort Campbell, proper. City Light & Power, Inc. (which manages electric distribution for multiple military bases) does not publicly provide outage numbers.
3:02 PM: For Southern Todd County, Pennyrile Electric is reporting hundreds without power:
Click here for the latest on outages with Pennyrile Electric: http://outage.precc.com/
3:10 PM: In Fort Campbell, unconfirmed reports people possibly being trapped in businesses along Fort Campbell Blvd, and in Clarksville along Wilma Rudolph Blvd and Tiny Town Road. These photos below were submitted to News First in Clarksville:
News First is in Storm Alert Mode with LIVE updates by Chief Meteorologist Beau Dodson in our Weather Center. Click HERE to go there now.
3:17 PM: Extensive damage reported in Clarksville, TN. Public reports numerous power poles down or snapped, trees broken and uprooted, buildings collapsed. apartment complex destroyed, houses destroyed, homes with roofs completely gone, cars flipped over and some picked up and thrown.
3:19 PM: Additional damage from Clarksville is beginning to become known
Clarksville, TN pic.twitter.com/iZCcR0W7a6
— Connor Healey 🌪️ (@Healey_Photo) December 9, 2023
3:49 PM: Montgomery County Tennessee Sheriff’s Department has issued a shelter in place:
3:55 PM: Clarksville Police Department is requesting all citizens stay in their current location:
4:00 PM: Additional photos are coming in from the area of damage:
ongoing thread of damage from #Clarksville #tennessee from the #pds #tornado. (will be updated as Kayla sends more) @NWSNashville pic.twitter.com/xpa6zp0mvV
— 🌪️✨ Kizzy~Rae ✨🌪️ ⎕ (@kizzyraeWx) December 9, 2023
4:01 PM: Clarksville Police: Originally Pisgah Elementary was going to be a shelter, however, the school does not have power and the shelter will be at Northeast High School.
Our Live moment to moment coverage has ended, however, we will continue to update this story with additional information as it becomes available. News First is monitoring multiple areas around the Clarksville / Fort Campbell area and points off to the west in Northwest Tennessee with multiple injuries. At present, emergency crews are working each area to help those in need.
8:00 PM UPDATE: Three fatalities were confirmed in Clarksville by the Montgomery County Mayor’s office Saturday evening. Three additional deaths were reported by the Nashville Office of Emergency Management. Montgomery County officials also said 23 people are being treated at hospitals for injuries.In addition, at least 30 are reported injured in the Nashville Metro Area. These numbers are expected to change through the night.
News First will provide updates as information becomes available.