At least 22 people died as the storms cut a path across Tennessee.
ATLANTA — A powerful storm early Tuesday spawned tornadoes that ripped through Tennessee, killing at least 22 people and creating a trail of devastation that struck Nashville and stretched across several counties in the central part of the state.
Officials said the full extent of the storm’s wrath remained impossible to grasp, as the death toll climbed and an untold number of people were unaccounted for as of Tuesday morning. At least 16 fatalities were reported in Putnam County, roughly 80 miles east of Nashville, and deaths were also reported in Davidson, Benton and Wilson Counties.
In Nashville, the police said a man and a woman had died after being struck by debris in East Nashville, an area of the city that had been among the hardest hit.
“We have much to know and much to learn in the hours ahead,” Gov. Bill Lee told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday morning. Asked if he knew how many people were missing, he replied, “We don’t know that yet. Reports are just coming in. It’s still early yet.”
The tornadoes cut a path through the middle of Tennessee in the early morning hours on Tuesday. A line of severe storms moved through the region starting on Monday, and late in the day, the National Weather Service urged people to take cover as forecasters warned of severe thunderstorms and the potential for tornadoes.
In Nashville, buildings were eviscerated and streets were filled with debris.
In Nashville alone, the authorities reported that at least 48 structures had either partially or completely collapsed. “It is a massive act of nature,” John Cooper, Nashville’s mayor, said at a briefing on Tuesday morning.
Officials warned that the number of confirmed fatalities could rise, as officials were still working to get a handle on the reach of the devastation and emergency workers continued to search through the rubble of damaged buildings. Police officers were going house to house in some areas, and road crews were clearing streets and dangerous electrical debris.
“It’s not looking good right now. We still have several people missing, a lot of loved ones calling in wanting us to locate their family,” Sheriff Eddie Farris of Putnam County told a local news station, WKRN. “We certainly hope that number doesn’t go up, but it’s not looking real promising at this point.”
In Nashville, fire officials said that more than 400 emergency calls had been made in the hours since the tornado touched down. Much of the damage in the city was concentrated in the Germantown neighborhood, which is north of downtown, and in East Nashville, including considerable devastation in the popular Five Points area. Photographs and videos spread on social media showing buildings that had been shredded and streets strewn with debris.
Residents reported homes with roofs that had been stripped off and windows that had been blown out. The John C. Tune Airport, six miles west of downtown, sustained significant damage, with several hangars destroyed and power lines down, but none was reported at Nashville International Airport.
On one local television newscast, an anchor showed viewers side-by-side photographs of streets lined with popular restaurants, hangouts and murals alongside the rubble that had taken their place.
The Basement East, a popular music venue, was severely damaged, and the roof appeared to have blown off. “All staff working tonight are okay!” the venue said on its Twitter account. “Building sustained significant damage.”
At the briefing on Tuesday, Mr. Cooper pointed out one auto parts store that had been decimated, which he saw as a sign of the tornado’s raw strength. “There was no stopping that,” he told reporters. “That just came out of the sky.”
Schools are closed and tens of thousands of people have lost power.
The police in Mount Juliet, an eastern suburb of Nashville, said on Twitter that several people in the city had been injured and several residences had been destroyed, and they urged residents to stay home.
In Benton County, about 100 miles west of Nashville, at least three fatalities had been reported and officials were out assessing the toll. “Power lines and roads down and of course electric was out but much of that cleared and restored very timely,” Brett Lashlee, the county’s mayor, said in an email. “More to come as we tour areas.”
Officials urged residents to stay home if they could, noting the dangers posed by debris and downed electrical lines. Schools in Nashville and elsewhere were closed on Tuesday. Nashville Electric Service is currently working to restore power to more than 47,000 customers.
President Trump will visit Nashville on Friday.
President Trump said that he would visit the Nashville area on Friday, adding that he was working with state officials and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was already on the ground.
“Our hearts are full of sorrow for the lives that were lost,” he said, speaking at a conference for the National Association of Counties in Washington. “It’s a vicious thing, those tornadoes. I’ve seen many of them during a three-year period and I’ve gotten to see the results and they are vicious if you are in their path.”
“We will get there, and we will recover, and we will rebuild, and we will help them,” he added.
Videos and photos on social media showed the power of the storms.
They were shared on social media by stunned residents, weather forecasters and local news reporters.
Sam Shamburger, the lead forecaster at National Weather Service Nashville, shared a video of the tornado passing near the downtown area, stirring up debris amid bursts of lightening.
A residential area in the Five Points area of East Nashville was devastated, the streets strewn with power lines and planks of wood. The John C. Tune Airport, a public airport on the Western side of the city, had debris scattered on the runways and surrounding fields. The former Tennessee State Prison, a 122-year-old building that is no longer used to incarcerate people and was a filming location for “The Green Mile,” was also damaged.
Still, polls were open for the primary on Tuesday.
Tennessee is one of the 14 states voting on Super Tuesday. Election officials said that the start of voting in Wilson and Davidson Counties, which includes Nashville, had been pushed back an hour because of street closures, power outages and damage to polling locations.
“Working with election officials around the state to ensure polls in affected counties are open for the required 10 hours today,” Tennessee’s secretary of state, Tre Hargett, said in a post on Twitter on Tuesday morning, adding later, “I know this pales by comparison to what many are dealing with this am. Big thank you to our election officials who are working through some difficult circumstances today.”
Elian Peltier contributed reporting from London, and Maria Cramer, Johnny Diaz and Jacey Fortin from New York.
