EF4 Tornado — Rutherford, Tennessee

2009-04-10 · near Allisona, Rutherford, Tennessee

Event narrative

An EF-4 Tornado...with maximum estimated wind speed around 170 mph, was reached in the Highland Park Drive Neighborhood as well as the

Tomahawk Trace Area. Several well constructed homes were destroyed

in those areas, hardwood trees were debarked, and vehicles were tossed

considerable distances. There were two fatalities, a 30 year old women and her 9 week old daughter, and 58 injuries per newspaper reports, of which at least 7 were serious. Path length was 23.25 miles and maximum width was 750 yards.

Gound surveys of the Murfreesboro tornado indicate that the actual initial touchdown was just north of the Eagleville Community in far

Southwestern Rutherford County. Intermittent tree and roof damage was

noted beginning at a residence near the intersection of Kelly Road and

Highway 41A. Intermittent tree damage continued northeast, with the path becoming continuous along Rocky Grove Road between the Cedar Grove

and Pleasant Hill Communities. The survey team then inspected continuous

damage from Rocky Grove Road northeast to a residence on Newman Road approximately 2 miles north of the Windrow Community. Extensive tree damage was noted along the path...along with multiple instances of roof damage to homes.

The most significant damage was on Patterson Road 1/2 mile west of Windrow. A brick home was completely destroyed and thrown almost

completely off its foundation.

Additional areas between Stones River Battlefield and Medical Center

Parkway in Murfreesboro were surveyed. Two homes on Wilkinson Pike and two homes on Highland Park Drive were completely destroyed. One of the homes did appear to be properly anchored to it's foundation while three

were not. Per a newspaper report, at Stones River Battlefield, a quarter mile swath of fallen and damaged trees streched one mile across the battlefield, along with numerous fences being destroyed, closing parts of the park to tourists. One particular fallen tree damaged a 60 foot section of the national cemetary wall and a cannon display.

Additional information about the tornado included it tracked due northeast for the first 9 miles then began a steady turn to the right. By the time the tornado lifted it was moving to the east-southeast. Additionally, videos of the tornado indicated a multiple vortex appearance to the tornado and the aerial survey was able to detect focused areas of damage within the larger path.

The aeriel survey revealed 12 to 15 homes which were completely destroyed and dozens others which suffered significant damage. A 2-story office building had the complete upper floor removed.

Numerous large vehicles were picked up and tossed, including

several semi trailers which wound up piled together near the

intersection of Thompson Lane and Broad Street. Significant roof

damage and some wall collapse on homes were also noted.

Several well built homes suffered significant exterior and

interior wall failure.

Three other areas received significant damage. The first area was along Bushnell Drive just north of Compton Road. A well built 2-storty brick home was almost completely destroyed with just part of the kitchen wall remaining standing. The second area was near the intersection of Haynes Drive and Sulphur Springs Road. Three homes on Cornwall Court were completely destroyed and thrown clear of their slab foundations, however

it did not appear any of the homes was properly anchored.

The third area of enhanced damage was along Battleground Drive between

D`Ann Drive and Tomahawk Trace. The National Weather Service Assessment team was joined by a Murfreesboro Code who assisted with assessing construction quality at this location. Three homes were completely blown clear of their foundations and destroyed. One home was not

anchored/fastened to the foundation, however, the other 2 were very well constructed. Several trees were also debarked at this location.

Additional information provided by the Rutherford County EMA through a newspaper report stated that over 845 homes were damaged, of these 117 were destroyed, 298 had major damage, 175 had minor damage, and another 255 were affected in some way. 519 Structures were also affected, including 77 destroyed, with an additional 300 plus homes and structures impacted in some way just outside of the city limits. Newspaper also reported an overturned truck caused traffic backup on Interstate 24 and multiple power lines down across the entire city.

Power lines being down resulted in as many as 18,000 homes being without power after the storm.

Newspaper also reported that two people were seriously injured and multiple homes were destroyed when the tornado passed through the Wilkinson Pike/Thompson Lane Areas. Large trees were also uprooted

and utility poles were blown over. Multiple businesses in the Thompson Lane/Broad Street area were significantly damaged, including a Shell convenience store and Huddleston-Steele Engineering.

Newspaper also reported continuous damage, detail of damage not provided, between Esquire Court and Wigan Drive and Tomahawk Trace to Highway 231 and then into the Compton Road area.

Newspaper also reported that Murfreesboro Waste Department had gathered in excess of more the 2.7 million pounds of debris. And that total tonnage associated with the storm gathered at the Rutherford County Landfill was 5,071 tons.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level storm system moved across Middle Tennessee triggering early morning severe thunderstorms along with a line of severe thunderstorms that moved west to east across the entire mid state from the late morning hours through mid afternoon. This resulted in 10 tornadoes across the mid state, with one being an EF4 Tornado in Murfreesboro in Rutherford County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.7579, -86.8480)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 165128. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.