4 Die, Hundreds Injured as Twisters Ravage South

NASHVILLE —  Four people were killed as tornadoes tore through Tennessee and Arkansas on Thursday, blowing out hundreds of windows and ripping off roofs in downtown Nashville.

“People heard it but couldn’t see it,” Manila, Ark., firefighter Michael White said of the early morning twister cloaked by darkness and sheets of rain.

The storm that hit Manila, about 230 miles west of Nashville, killed Casey Lomax, 2, and Brittany Lomax, 5. Their parents were injured. The twister left little more than rows of cinder blocks that had supported their trailer home, splintered wood and a child’s scooter on a pile of rubble.

Sirens sounded just before a tornado tore through the small farming community of roughly 3,000, which likely spared many other lives.

“Thank God the warning sirens went off. They woke me up and saved my life,” said Melvin Brown, whose house was heavily damaged.

An hour later, a tornado spawned by the same storm killed Paul and Peggy Kolwyck in Roellen, Tenn., about 50 miles to the east. Their bodies were found 200 to 250 feet from their mobile home, which was torn apart.

A 66-year-old neighbor was in stable condition with several broken bones after her mobile home collapsed on top of her.

Another tornado struck Nashville in the afternoon. About 100 people were injured, police and emergency management officials said.

Cecil Whaley of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said most of the injuries were from flying glass, and none was believed to be life-threatening. One man hit by a falling tree was seriously hurt.

Gov. Don Sundquist declared Nashville a disaster area.

The Tennessee Oilers’ football stadium, which is about one-third complete, also was damaged.

“Parts of the stadium were being tossed around like Popsicle sticks. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Rodney Stanford, who was at a nearby restaurant.

The twisters were part of a series of storms that hit Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee late Wednesday and Thursday.