Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 4 March 2020

Continued from front the house started shaking,"
It smashed more than three Carlie Peters said. "I jumped
dozen buildings, including on top of the ground. He
destroying the tower and jumped on top of me. The
stained glass of a historic ceiling landed on top of
church. Another tornado him. ... we're grateful to be
damaged more than 100 alive."
structures along a 2-mile With more than a dozen
(3.2-kilometer) path of de- Super Tuesday polling plac-
struction in Putnam County, es in Nashville's Davidson
wiping some homes from County damaged, voters
their foundations and de- were sent to other loca-
positing the wreckage far tions, some of them with
away. long lines.
Daybreak revealed land- The Tennessee secretary
scapes littered with blown- of state delayed opening
down walls and roofs, polls in the disaster area
snapped power lines and for an hour, but said they
huge broken trees, making would close as scheduled
many city streets and rural Tuesday night. The Lawyers
roads impassable. Schools, Committee for Civil Rights
courts, transit lines, an air- Under Law urged the gov-
port and the state Capitol ernor and elections offi-
were closed. More than a cials to extend the primary
dozen polling stations were through at least the end of
also damaged, forcing Su- the week.
per Tuesday voters to wait The tornado blew down a
in long lines at alternative major Tenneesee Valley
sites. Authority transmission line in
The death toll climbed Putnam County, and Nash-
steadily as first respond- ville Electric tweeted that
ers gingerly pulled apart four of its substations were
wreckage. damaged, leaving more
Sheriff Eddie Farris said only than 44,000 customers in
30 percent of the Putnam the dark.
County disaster area had Sumant Joshi helps to clean up rubble at the East End United Methodist Church after it was heavily The severe weather also
damaged by storms Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. Joshi is a resident in the area and
received a "hard check" volunteered to help clean up. damaged gas lines, water
by midday. "A lot of these Associated Press mains and cellphone tow-
homes had basements, ers, making the rescue and
and we're hopeful there "We send our love and our transformed by a recent Methodist Church. recovery efforts much more
are still people down in prayers of the nation to ev- building boom. German- "It's this beautiful Richardso- difficult, authorities said.
there," he said. ery family that was affect- town and East Nashville are nian Romanesque church. Schools were closed in
Nashville residents walked ed," he said. "We will get two of the city's trendiest The bell tower is gone, the Nashville and beyond as
around in dismay on streets there, and we will recover, hotspots, with restaurants, triptych window of Jesus families who were sudden-
and sidewalks littered with and we will rebuild, and music venues, high-end the good shepherd that ly homeless tried to figure
debris, in neighborhoods we will help them."The tor- apartment complexes and they just restored and put out their next steps. Hun-
where missing walls and nadoes were spawned by rising home prices threat- back up a few weeks ago dreds of people went to
roofs left living rooms and a line of severe storms that ening to drive out longtime is gone," she said. a Red Cross shelter at the
kitchens exposed. Man- stretched from Alabama residents. The roof came crashing Nashville Farmers Market,
gled power lines and bro- into western Pennsylvania. "The dogs started barking down on Ronald Baldwin just north of the state Capi-
ken trees came to rest on In Nashville, the twister's before the sirens went off. and Harry Nahay in the tol, but a power outage
cars, streets and piles of path was mostly north and They knew what was com- bedroom of their one-story there forced them to move
rubble. east of the heart of down- ing," said Paula Wade, of brick home in East Nashville. again to the Centennial
"It is heartbreaking. We town, sparing many of East Nashville. "Then we "We couldn't get out," Bald- Sportsplex.
have had loss of life all the city's biggest tourism heard the roar ... Something win said. "And so I just kept The weather also reduced
across the state," said Gov. draws — the honky tonks made me just sit straight kicking and kicking until we much of the interior of the
Bill Lee, who ordered nones- of Broadway, the Grand up in bed, and something finally made a hole." long-closed Tennessee
sential state workers to stay Ole Opry House, the storied came through the window The roaring wind woke State Prison in Shelbyville
home and then boarded Ryman Auditorium and the right above my head. If I Evan and Carlie Peters, to huge piles of bricks, the
a helicopter to survey the convention center. hadn't moved, I would've also in East Nashville, but state Department of Cor-
damage. Instead the storm tore gotten a face full of glass." they had no time to reach rections said in a tweet.
President Donald Trump through the largely African Then she looked across the the relative safety of an in- The prison formed the set of
announced plans to visit American area of Bordeaux street and saw the dam- terior bathroom. "The Green Mile" and other
the disaster area on Friday. as well as neighborhoods age at East End United "Within about 10 seconds, films.q