Damage along Igou Gap Road
photo by Carlton Smith
Carlton Smith had only seconds to react when he awoke to the sound of a tornado bearing down on East Brainerd. He quickly realized what was happening and immediately took action.
“It sounded like a train coming down the tracks,” said Mr. Smith, who was with his girlfriend during the storm. “It was really loud and I knew what it was, and I got us to the bathtub.”
“I’m sure the walls were kind of shaking. From what I understand, one of the tornadoes was maybe a street or two over because I was a street or two over from East Brainerd Elementary.”
The apartment and his vehicle did not sustain any damage, although his car is currently stuck under some fallen branches.
“My car is covered in branches, but there’s no broken glass or damage,” said Mr. Smith.
There have been several reports on social media of people not receiving any sort of warning that the tornado was approaching. Mr. Smith said there was a tornado watch, but that he did not hear any notification for a tornado sighting.
“Once I got to the bathtub, I had co-workers watching the news who were giving me updates,” said Mr. Smith. “But there was no real siren or phone alert that said it was coming. It just happened.”
Christopher Dortch lives in Ooltewah, and he had the terrifying experience of being in the “eye of the storm.”
“All of a sudden, everything just went quiet,” said Mr. Dortch. “We were in the only safe place we could think of, which was the powder room. I had my wife and dogs get down and put pillows on them, and I was getting ready to jump on them.”
“And then all of a sudden, I couldn’t hear anything. And I thought, 'Oh crap.' My daughter was on the phone and she was giving us play by play because she could see the radar. And she said “One minute, you’ll get it in one minute.”
“Then I look out our sunroom window and I see some lightning flash,” said Mr. Dortch. “I thought 'That looks like our fence blown down,' and then it flashed again, and yeah the fence was blown down.”
Mr. Dortch said his house was mostly unscathed by the storm. He said some shingles had blown off the roof, and a neighbor’s trampoline had blown into his yard. The sturdy fence that surrounded his yard was also destroyed.
Unlike many, Mr. Dortch was notified about the tornado before it occurred.
“I was getting my phone alerted, and we had an alarm that sounded off in our house. And then we started getting texts from people asking if we were okay.”