OK in Tennessee

[mick]

Hi, everyone. I wanted you to know that while the tornado came close, the wife and I are okay and luckily sustained no property damage. I've exchanged emails/text messages with Darryl, Richard, Don and just got off the phone with Lt. Tim who suggested that I might want to post something.

Unlike a lot of "tornado alley" twisters which churn up farmland and pasture land (Moore, Oklahoma being a notable exception), this one came right through downtown Nashville and subsequently hit several surrounding communities as an EF2 and then an EF3. Worst hit was Cookeville, which is about 75 miles east of Nashville. The beast dropped out of the clouds as an EF4 and there are about half a dozen communities around Cookeville that no longer exist. Eighteen of the state's twenty five casualties were there. Heartbreaking.

But we're okay here. Thank you for your thoughts and expressions of concern.