Deaf Nashville residents describe close calls with tornadoes
I was able to reach out to several deaf survivors of the tornadoes that hit the Nashville, Tennessee area early Tuesday morning. Their homes were not destroyed, but they were barely hit and some did not even realize there were tornadoes because they were deaf.
Here is a video from Jon and Amy Stockard.
JON STOCKARD:
Hello, my name is Jon Stockard.
AMY STOCKARD:
Hi! I’m Amy Stockard.
JON:
We live in East Nashville. It’s half a mile away from the tornado’s path.
AMY:
We slept when it happened at 12:39 a.m. The weather alerts didn’t work for us. We had no idea and slept overnight. We woke up in the morning.
JON:
Our phones were full of notifications and text messages. I didn’t understand what was going on.
AMY:
“Are you okay?” “Are you alive?” “Contact me!” They were so worried. I didn’t understand what was going on until I watched the news. It’s really horrible.
JON:
We were shocked. We slept through it! The tornado was so close, only half a mile away. We feel blessed.
AMY:
Absolutely. Our neighbors said they heard sirens go off but because we’re deaf we couldn’t hear it. We saw horrible devastation. Homes and businesses.
[Images by Jon and Amy that shows the destruction in the Nashville area.]
JON:
We walked around and saw many bizarre things, such as a wooden piece of scrap embedded in a concrete wall. I also saw a metal sign that was completely wrapped around a tree like it was nothing.
[Images by Jon and Amy that shows the destruction in the Nashville area.]
AMY:
I couldn’t believe it. It was like a war zone. But the wonderful thing is that we did see the community come together to help each other. Neighbors helped each other. You know why? What is Tennessee called?
JON:
Volunteers. They all came over.
AMY:
That.
JON:
Tennessee never really asks for help from others. The same thing happened during the 2010 floods. We can take care of ourselves.
AMY:
We help each other. Nashville will come back.
JON:
Yes, right now businesses will feel a big impact because that street is famous for tourists. So it will hurt their business, but they will rebound and get back up.
JON AND AMY:
We are Nashville Strong.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you Jon and Amy for sharing. What a close call, and we see that there is a wonderful spirit in Nashville.
Next is a video from William Ellis, Jr..
WILLIAM ELLIS, JR:
My name is William Ellis. I’m from Tennessee. I live in Putnam County which is where Cookeville is in. That night we were all asleep. It was peaceful. I was asleep then at 2:00 in the morning, maybe 2:15 a.m., my oldest son woke me up. He was crying and scared. He heard something really loud. Like a roaring lion. My wife was asleep next to me and my other son was asleep. My daughter was over at her boyfriend’s home. I looked through the window and did not see anything. I went outside where the carport was. It is not a garage but a carport. I was puzzled that my cooler was moved away and saw that my beach chairs (camping chairs) were tossed away. It was 3 a.m. outside. Half of the sky was clear while the other half was black and stormy. I saw power flashes, surges of electricity flash towards Cookeville. I live in Baxter, the next town. It’s only a mile away in the same county. So I saw the power flashes go all the way there. I was confused. It looked like it was just a rainstorm. I looked at my phone and saw that there was a tornado warning. I checked my surroundings and there was nothing. I was very nervous but didn’t want to wake up my wife. I looked through the windows and did not notice anything. It looked like it went past us. I stayed awake then I saw many police officers and ambulances zoom by towards Cookeville. All kinds of first responders went there. People rushed to help. I could only look through the window and did not know what was going on. Later on I was ready to go to bed as I was tired. In the morning, when I got up, I wanted to check out the outside and saw a downed tree. It was now clear, unlike the dark night. There was a broken tree. I went outside and saw that it was so close… my house is here. My wife’s “sister/best friend” lived across the street. The tornado path went behind her house and around us and down to Cookeville. Yes, it went around us. I saw destruction all around me. My area is okay, there were just torn off shingles. But a mile down, there was so much destruction. Entire homes were leveled.
[Video by Xydeni Badriyah Ellis showing destruction from the tornado]
I felt so sad, so bad. It was very emotional. They lost everything. I started to blame myself because we are very lucky, but not for them. They’re gone. If the tornado hit us, we would have been dead. But it went around.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you for sharing. It is scary to think that something so terrible could pass by so close by your home without you realizing it.
The last is a statement from Paige and Chris, who live in Hermitage, Tennessee. I will sign in ASL a summary of an email they sent.
Paige said a tornado missed her home by 1/4 of a mile. She said she knew there would be a thunderstorm, but did not realize how bad it would be. She stayed up late to watch a television show and got a cellphone alert twice but did not take it seriously. She and Chris debated if they should hide in the basement — then the power went out — and they looked outside in the backyard and said it looked so scary with a severe thunderstorm and then it eventually went calm with only rain. When Chris went on his Facebook, he found out there was a tornado and couldn’t sleep overnight. They kept track of updates through Facebook and Instagram because there was no power. They got a generator to keep the refrigerator running. Later that evening, they drove around to see the damage and saw that an elementary school less than 5 minutes away was completely gone along with its surrounding neighborhood.
[Nighttime video footage by Paige and Chris of severely damaged buildings and toppled power lines]
She said cellphone alerts are helpful for deaf people but if she went to bed instead of staying up late, she wouldn’t have realized there was a tornado until the morning. She said she learned a lesson to never underestimate tornado warnings.
Thank you Paige and Chris for sharing.
We can see the impact that the tornadoes have on deaf people and how they face greater risks because of an inability to hear sirens or the tornadoes themselves.
At least 24 people died from the storms, including five children under the age of 13. There are three people who are missing.
News reports said at least two tornadoes hit the Nashville region — one was an EF-4 tornado with 175 mph winds that hit Putnam county and the other was an EF-3 with 165 mph winds that hit Davidson, Wilson and Smith counties.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/3-still-missing-after-ef-4-tornado-tennessee-s-putnam-n1150221
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/04/nashville-tornadoes-what-we-know-deaths-damage-path/4950396002/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/cookeville-tornado-relief-fund-2020?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0EjA1OXwXdjbJ9gVvXg7d0KiAGzSA89o3YPp4_ZNwXDK1qwU2kCOb8WBc