A powerful tornado struck the southeastern U.S. city of Nashville, Tennessee and surrounding areas early Tuesday morning, killing at least seven people and causing extensive damage.
Video captured the tornado moving through downtown accompanied by occasional flashes of lightning, turning buildings to rubble. Emergency officials say they responded to reports of at least 40 structure collapses throughout Nashville. Officials opened several emergency shelters to house residents who were forced out of their homes, one of them a farmer’s market on the outskirts of downtown. The city’s schools were shut down Tuesday.
The tornado also destroyed several hangars at a small municipal airport in west Nashville as it made its way into downtown. At least two of the deaths occurred in Nashville.
The tornado first hit near the small town of Camden, located about 160 kilometers west of Nashville, killing one person. Additional people were killed when the twister moved into the small city of Cookeville, located nearly 140 kilometers east of the state’s capital.
Political observers say the tornado is likely to affect voting in Tennessee, which is one of 14 states that are part of the so-called “Super Tuesday” primary.