NASHVILLE, Tn. (LEX 18) — As Tennesseans woke up Tuesday morning to see the damage from the tornadoes in the sunlight, two Kentuckians, who now live in Nashville, know they were lucky.
One of the hardest hit areas was in a trendy area called East Nashville. Tyler Thompson, who works at Kentucky Sports Radio, lives there.
"It sounds cliche, but it's like walking around a war zone," Thompson said. "What hit me the most was our street looked almost unaffected. We had a couple limbs down but nothing major."
Thompson says two streets over, the homes are destroyed.
"Some of these houses have been here for hundreds of years. You know, half of it's gone," Thompson noted. "There's tree limbs everywhere, giant trees have just taken down all of the power lines on several of the main streets."
In West Nashville is where Kelly Dean was staying with her sister. Dean owns a farm in the Bowling Green area and works in downtown Nashville. Dean and her family were watching the radar closely in the middle of the night when they realized they were a mile from the tornado's path.
"Watching the red all around us, it's like, oh, is it going to hit us? But the way that the formation of the storm was going, it was like it was going to go around us," Dean said. "But still, seeing that red, it's like okay, what kind of damage are we going to get? It's still terrifying," Dean said.
Dean said they drove around the city this morning to look at the damage.
"These modern, brand new apartments that have just been completely wiped out and destroyed and hundreds of people displaced. Just watching that happen in your community is so heart breaking. It's surreal. Like I said, my mind can't wrap around what I'm seeing," Dean said.
Both Kentuckians turned Nashville residents say while their home is devastated, they know Nashville will be strong while healing.
"There are certain coffee shops that are handing out free coffee, a lot of food trucks, if they can get over here are handing out free food," Thompson said. "I'm meeting up with my friends after this is over, we are taking work gloves and just trying to go help out anyway that we can."
