NWS: EF-1 tornado travelled from Gibson County into Weakley County
GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. – Saturday around 1 p.m. a tornado ripped through West Tennessee communities leaving behind a path of destruction.
The path of the tornado was 25 miles long, with a maximum width of 600 yards. It began east of Yorkville in Gibson County and traveled to an area southeast of Dresden.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm was indicative of an EF-1 tornado with 110 MPH winds.
From an area west of Rutherford, down to Bells Chapel Road in Gibson County, the damage grew more apparent.
A half mile further east we came upon our first display of structural damage.
We spoke to one homeowner who chose not to appear on camera but told us that he witnessed the tornado “drop at the tree line” of a field near his property as he was running from his house to his shelter.
He described the air as clear and absent of rain until the tornado was on the ground. At this point, the air became filled with debris and difficult to see.
Before closing the door of his shelter, he saw the tornado move across the road and behind his neighbor’s house.
We moved further into Rutherford and met with another individual named John Meadows.
Meadows told us he was home when the tornado hit his house and shop.
“It was hitting the windows so bad I said, ‘Man. It’s gonna break my windows out.’ So I just laid down in the floor beside the door there and in a few seconds it was over,” Meadows said.
Meadows says after the tornado passed he walked outside and looked around.
“Well, I just knew it was destroyed. I said this is a total loss,” Meadows said.
Meadows says the cleanup effort has been going smoothly. He doesn’t plan to rebuild his shop, but he says the community has been very supportive.
“We’ve had a lot of support and there’s a lot of damage. The neighbors are helping to take care of each other too, but they’ve got their own to take care of, you know. But we’ll all help each other. It’s a good community,” Meadows said.
Meadows said he was just glad no one was hurt. He said you can replace any belongings you have but you can’t replace the lives of your family.
After leaving Rutherford, we continued along the path of destruction toward Weakley County.
Finally, on Summers Road, a road a few miles southeast of Dresden, cleanup efforts were still underway.
That was where the tornado finally ended after traveling 25 miles from a little bit east of Yorkville to southeast Dresden.
According to the National Weather Service, no one died from the tornado. However, three were injured.
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