Crews clean up after severe storms rip roof from motel

RIPLEY, Tenn. — Crews work to pick up what’s left of a motel roof, hours after a round of severe storms blew it completely off the building.

“It’s a complete disaster, and I never thought anything like that would happen,” Days Inn owner Amit Chauhaun said.

Chauhaun says cleaning up the damage won’t be easy, but it could have been worse.

“I actually was blessed, because no person or no one in my family got hurt,” he said.

Chauhaun says it took seconds for a gust of strong wind to blow the roof off and on its side.

“The police department, the fire department and everyone was here to help me,” he said. “They wanted to make sure no one got hurt.”

Chauhaun says two guests, and his family, were in the motel during the storm.

He says he relocated the guests to his second motel down the street, also in Ripley.

“Right now, we’re temporarily closed, because we’re out of power, and all my rooms got damaged,” Chauhaun said.

Gary Wilson was at work next door when the storms came through. He says his tractor business saw no damage.

“I just feel bad for the owners, it looks like they’re going to have a lot of repairs financially,” Wilson said.

Chauhuan estimates it will cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair his motel.

But despite the damage, he’s counting his blessings.

“Because we can replace the building, but not somebody’s life,” he said.

The motel owner says Days Inn in Ripley will be closed for at least two months.