Nashville, Tennessee, USA
1933 - Nashville Counts Ten Dead, Pruden Eight. Several Other Communities Lashed. LIST GROWS.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Mar. 15 (AP) - The mad caprice of a tornado which lashed the Tennessee-Kentucky border last night left a toll of 35 known dead and more than 200 injured in the wreckage of homes which marked its path from the Mississippi to the Cumberland Mountains.
Launching its career on the Arkansas and Missouri side of the Mississippi early in the night, the twister swept down on Nashville and then on to the east, spending its fury in a final burst of destruction at and near Kingsport.

Through Lebanon, Harrogate and Jellico the storm marked its path of destruction, wrecking numerous smaller towns and villages as it went.

List Grows
The list of dead grew slowly today as rescue workers dug in the wreckage of homes along the route of the twister, and reports trickled in from rural communities as communication lines were reestablished.
Nashville had at least 10 dead; Pruden 9; Lebanon 4; Kingsport 6; Bellwood 1; Harrogate 2; Rogersville 2; Oswego 1.

While refugees returned to their demolished homes trying to salvage belongings relief agencies were at work to alleviate suffering.
The Red Cross offered its services immediately after the twister struck Nashville, and its workers carried relief to the stricken part of the city. Emergency calls brought scores of doctors and nurses from all parts of Nashville to make their way through the wreckage, administering first aid to injured.

Guards
National guardsmen were placed on duty in the area, and police and firemen also were used in clearing debris, cutting away trees that blocked the streets and aiding the refugees. The Salvation Army offered its facilities to the storm victims, and was on the scene early with coffee and doughnuts for the refugees and the rescue workers.

Residents of the neighborhood turned vigilantes, armed themselves, and stood guard to prevent looting. At Pruden, ambulances from Middlesboro, Ky., arrived to take the injured to hospitals in the Kentucky city. The Red Cross arranged to set up food kitchens in the East Tennessee area, extending relief to more than 100 homeless at Pruden. The Middlesboro Red Cross unit also took charge of relief in Oswego, Harrogate and Kingsport.

The Nashville Red Cross was collecting supplies for the tornado victims, and announced it would have funds for relief work.

Nashville, a city of more than 150,000 and the Tennessee capital, felt the full force of the storm as the driving winds dipped over a fringe of hills and cut across the eastern portion of the community bowling over houses, damaging buildings, uprooting trees and littering the streets with debris.

Lights Out
Lights over the city were snapped out as power lines fell. Ambulances drove through uncertain streets to take some 100 or more injured to hospitals where physicians had to work for a time with improvised illumination.

Scores of buildings in East Nashville were leveled and the National Guard was called out to preserve order. Rescue workers with flashlights picked their way over trees and through debris in the hunt for the dead and injured. Two negro churches and a school were wrecked. Fires added to the confusion.

First reports of storm damage came from Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri. Heavy damage was reported at Caruthersville.
Then the storm headed eastward and whipped into Middle Tennessee and on across the state. The little town of Pruden in the coal mine country reported eight dead. Kingsport, East Tennessee industrial center, had six killed and Jellico suffered heavy damage.

Wide Swath
Holton, Antras, Eagan, Clairfield, Valley Creek, Fonds, Newcomb, Wooldridge and Proctor all in the Upper Tennessee country, also were hit. Damage at Jellico was estimated at more than $100,000 and in the Clear Fork Valley above $500,000.

The storm winds also reached into the blue grass country and there was hail in its wake as it apparently spent its force against the East Tennessee mountains.

Relief forces were organized quickly and the rescue work was pushed to the utmost as daylight neared. The Red Cross went into action here immediately and all policemen, firemen and city forces were ordered on duty in the stricken section of East Nashville.

There was no official estimate of damage and authorities feared an increased toll of death and destruction with the restoration of communication and the coming of daylight and further reports.
The population of the section stricken hardest by the tornado is preponderantly white.

The Kingsport Times
Tennessee
March 15, 1933

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