Tornadoes that roared through parts of Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee killed at least 27 people and injured nearly 100 more Tuesday night, authorities said.
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Union University staff and students search through the rubble of dormitories destroyed by a tornado in Tennessee.
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The storms prompted the early closures of polling places, damaged a university, a shopping mall, a retirement home and a hospital, and caused damage that may not be fully apparent until daybreak.

It trapped people in damaged buildings and ignited a fire that sent flames shooting hundreds of feet into the night sky.

"Rescue crews are going to go all night long," said Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the Arkansas governor. "Until daylight comes, we're really not going to know the scope of things." Video Watch flames leap hundreds of feet »

The storm killed 13 people in four counties in Arkansas, according to the state's emergency management agency.

In Atkins, Arkansas, three people were killed, including a man, woman and child in the same family, Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson said.

Five others were transferred to local hospitals. Emergency officials reported a fourth death in Pope County, where Atkins is located.
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Gibson said there was widespread damage across the county, and that trucks and vehicles were overturned by the storm along Interstate 40. The interstate was briefly closed, he said, but had since reopened.

About 30 National Guardsmen will help with the recovery effort in Atkins on Friday morning, DeCample said.

The other fatalities in Arkansas were in Izard County where three died. Two each were killed in Van Buren and Conway counties, and in Stone and Baxter counties, both of which had one death. Video Watch a man relive what happened when he had no time to hide from the tornado »

In Tennessee, the tornado trapped college students and retirees in collapsed buildings and retirement-home communities, said Julie Oaks, a spokeswoman for the state's Emergency Management Agency.

In Memphis, a tornado swept through the southeastern section of the city, killing three people and injuring a dozen others, according to emergency management officials. All three died when part of a warehouse collapsed on them. At least eight others were injured across the county.

Also hit in the storm was the Hickory Ridge Mall, said Shelby County, Tennessee, Emergency Preparedness Director Bob Nations Jr.

There were no significant injuries, he said, but added, "The mall infrastructure is heavily damaged."

Two people were found dead outside a house that had been blown away by the storm in Castilian Springs in Sumner County, Tennessee, said Jay Austin, the county's primary death investigator.

Elsewhere in the area, a mother was found dead in a creek bed about 50 yards from where her house stood, Austin said. Her infant child was found 250 yards away. The baby was taken to a local hospital, Austin said.

Altogether, the storms claimed five lives in Sumner County, bringing the death toll in Tennessee to 11.

One person was killed in Madison County, Oaks said. Two others died in Hardin County, according to the local emergency management agency.

At least 50 people were trapped after the storm caused damage to the Jackson Oaks Retirement Home, Oaks said. Nine students were trapped in a damaged dormitory at Union University in Jackson, she said.

But the Union University campus was perhaps hardest hit -- classes have been canceled for two weeks to allow for clean up. "It looks like a war zone," said David Dockery, university president. "Cars and trucks thrown from one side of the campus to the other."

Dockery said the women's dorms were destroyed, along with two academic buildings. Many other school buildings received lesser damage.

Advance warning of the storm saved lives, he said, giving students enough time to move to shelters. At one point, 13 were trapped, but there were no severe injuries.

About 3,300 students attend the school with 1,200 living on campus.

Company officials believe a tornado hit a compressor station for the Columbia Gulf Transmission company in Hartsville, Tennessee, about 40 miles northeast of Nashville, setting off a spectacular natural gas fire.

The station boosts the pressure of natural gas that is piped through the station and on to mid-Atlantic and northeastern states, he said.

"It looks like a tornado touched down ... went through our compressor station yard," Columbia spokesman Kelly Merritt said, tearing away engines used to push the gas through the pipeline.

The blaze could be seen in the night sky for miles around, with flames shooting "400, 500 feet in the air," said Tennessee Emergency Management spokesman Donnie Smith.

The station was damaged significantly but there were no reports of injuries or fatalities, said Merritt. "We would not have had any employees there (overnight)," Merritt said.

The blaze was put out early Wednesday morning, according to Merritt.

Near the facility, a tornado flattened the home of Dara Reasonover.

"It just took the house and everything and my horses and my dog," a shaken Reasonover said as the glow of the fire lit the sky behind her. "I don't know if they're alive or dead, but we'll make it."
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The National Weather Service said the roof was ripped off a hangar at Memphis International Airport. FedEx, which is based in Memphis, reported damage to a portion of a roof on a firehouse, but said its daily flights were not affected.

Storms also ripped through western Kentucky, killing at least three people at a mobile home park in Muhlenberg County, emergency management officials said. State emergency spokesman Buddy Rogers said a state of emergency has been declared in the county and Kentucky National Guard troops have been deployed.

just been reading about this

jami0mckay said:

Me too.. my mom and dad both live in Tennessee. Neither one of them were effected from what I can tell so far. I will try to contact my mom soon to check on her. My step dad has lots of family in Alabama.

shanti0608 said:

jami0mckay said:

Thanks. I hope there were no orgers effected by these storms.


Love your sig btw
[Edited 2/6/08 3:05am]

Wow...

shanti0608 said:

thanks, I woke up with that song in my head

shanti0608 said:

Very sad .
I hope noone you know is affected .

The sky is almost black/green here and the wind is amazing - warm, around 64 degrees

Very weird weather for Feb
( I live 15 minutes from TN state line )

We have severe weather warnings right now

Mach said:

Stay safe Mach.
My dad is closest to you, Johnson City TN. My mom is in Bradley County down there closer to Alabama/Georgia.
I hope everyone is (and remains) safe.....



My mom told me the other day that they were calling for weather in the upper 60's.
That is strange for early Feb.

shanti0608 said:

It was 74 here yesterday

JT goes to college right near JC TN ETSU

Mach said:

I just called my mom. They are safe. She was up before dawn checking on the horses. She has a momma giving birth on or around my birthday.

She said that there was a tornado close by but luckily missed them.
Thankfully!!

shanti0608 said:

Awww baby horsey - I have helped many a mare birth her foal - it's just an amazing experience

we have hard rain now I love storms

Mach said:

She is well excited about the baby horsey. She has been reading up on it and talking to all of her horse breeder friends. She said she cannot wait to see her new grand baby that she hopes to be born on my bday.
I think she has given up hope on having a human grand baby.

i saw on the news that there were 12 tornados in several states in that area yesterday.
TWELVE!

horatio said:

Thank god it wasn't 13

shanti0608 said:

I have a large bet on you and phil having a baby in the next 18 month

don't make me give up my $

Mach said:

Actually many of my friends have the same bet going. My mom has made comments like "sure, now that you are moving away you will finally decide to have kids when I am too far away to see them" and "why couldn't you have decided to have them when you lived two miles from me".


We shall see what happens. It happens it happens great and if it doesn't then that will be fine too.

shanti0608 said:

did you tell her about her new son..

I'm so happy to hear that your family was not affected.

eraclito said:

She is still mourning me moving 5000 miles away.. I do not want to push her over the edge just yet.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

thanks

I am still hoping that no one here was in those areas.
It was pretty vast.

so the new lingo for Tornado on the news is twister

horatio said:

Mach said:

Do we get a share of the winnings if we hit the target?

mdiver said:

I SAID don't make me give up my money



oh wait


NO

Mach said:

No fair

That no harm came to any orgers who live in the areas affected.