Posted on 11/11/2002 3:30:35 AM PST by Tennessee_Bob
Twister strikes Morgan County
Three feared dead, others missing
By J.J. Stambaugh, News-Sentinel staff writer
November 11, 2002
At least three people were thought to have been killed and many more injured Sunday night in Morgan County when a tornado touched down in the Mossy Grove community, authorities said.
At least 20 buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged. Authorities said several people were feared missing, and a number of people may have been trapped in storm-damaged structures.
Emergency management officials, hampered by downed phone lines in Morgan County, struggled to calculate the extent of the damage.
Rains also hindered crews' efforts to assess the scene.
"It's mass destruction, death," said Oliver Springs Police Department Officer Ken Morgan. "Mossy Grove is destroyed We're just getting bits and pieces right now, but there have been several dead and several missing."
More than 15 ambulances from Knox, Anderson and Roane counties were dispatched to Morgan County under the terms of a 16-county mutual aid agreement. Morgan County officials activated the agreement about 9:45 p.m. and Rural/Metro Ambulance Service sent "between eight and 10 ambulances," according to Knox County Emergency Medical Services Coordinator Ronnie Patterson.
"Our only contacts (with Morgan County) have been with ham radio operators and one phone call from their E-911 dispatcher," Patterson said.
Nearby communities such as Oliver Springs, Harriman and Kingston sent all available units to assist their neighbors. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency dispatched a crew to the scene and was preparing to set up a command post near the Roane County line.
"The Morgan County emergency management coordinator is completely out of contact," said Cecil Whaley, TEMA Director of Natural Hazards. "Their power is down. We have a confirmed touchdown of a tornado and we have probably 15 to 20 homes heavily damaged."
In Coffee County, two people were killed and 12 injured when a tornado touched down just after 8:45 p.m. EDT, Whaley said. Other tornadoes touched down in Fentress, Dekalb and Van Buren counties but there were no reports of injuries, he said.
The storms that wreaked so much destruction in Morgan County were spawned by the same system that had already claimed the lives of three people in West Tennessee. It moved Sunday night into East Tennessee, toppling trees and sending golfball-sized hail crashing to the ground.
The Medford community of Anderson County was especially hard hit. Several structures were damaged and the building that houses the community's volunteer fire department was reportedly destroyed when a possible tornado touched down, according to dispatchers with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department.
Residents in numerous counties were told to take shelter from reported funnel clouds as tornado warnings were issued across the region. The high winds knocked down trees and power lines across the region and left thousands of people were without electricity; in McMinn County, authorities measured winds in excess of 90 mph.
Although the National Weather Service office in Morristown issued 41 separate tornado warnings Sunday night, NWS officials said they weren't prepared to confirm that any tornados had actually touched down.
At one point, nearly 4,500 customers in West and South Knox County were without power, but that number had been cut in half by utility crews sent to repair the damage, a KUB spokesman said.
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