The Jackson Sun from Jackson, Tennessee • 30

IN THE AFTERMATH Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1999 The Jackson SunPage 7D "I was holding on to my husband's pants, thinking if he flies away, I'll go with him. But then I thought, 'What if he flies out of his Susan Robinson, who lives at 33 Russell Road WHAT THEY SAID 'I was scared, I was praying' When Suzanne Weiber walks through her front yard, she must step over tree trunks, spare tires, clothes and garbage cans at her WHAT THEY SAID We're alive, we're so lucky' Susan Robinson has always believed in guardian angels. "One was certainly with me (Sunday) night she said. Robinson spent a portion of How a tornado is formed home at 12 Russell Road.

"I was expecting some damage, but nothing like this," she said. i They grow more violent Clash of warm-cold air causes thunderstorms 4 A tornado is bom Winds from different directions help give the air a twisting motion needed for tornadoes, 7 Monday sorting through what was left of her home at 33 Russell Road She recounts 1 how she was standing in her living room when God told her to "run." Jetstream vv ewer saia 'she was warrhintr Robinson Cold, 100 mpn jet-stream winds above 20,000 feet encourage thunderstorms to grow. Cold air jb A humid air Strona winds arouna i.uuu rA television when Weiber she was warned of the tornado approaching her area and ran to take cover in the bathroom. "I was scared. I was praying.

This was the first tornado I have ever been in, and I don't want to be in another one," she said. "The lights went out; the windows started shaking and tearing out. It was horrible." Weiber, 25, didn't make it to the bathroom before the damage was done a tree fell into her bedroom and den. "I was. running to the bathroom and something knocked me down; I don't know what.

So I started crawling down the stairs to the bathroom. By that time, it was over." Weiber has a puffy black and JIue area under her eye because she was hit with a flying object, Chandra Hayslett 'This wasn't the worst one' "I've been in. seven tornadoes and about five' hurricanes, and this (SundavW wasn't thn worst IVCI WWW MII3 A vv round pump warm, humid air. The living room was the only room in her home that was damaged'. "I'm always worried that a tornado will hit, so when I told my husband that we needed to take cover, he said, 'Yeah she said.

"But I grabbed him anyway and we went into a small room in the middle of the house and closed all the doors." Robinson, 49, said the tornado first blew the door open where they hid, but then slammed it shut. She held on literally. "I was holding on to my husband's pants, thinking if he flies away, I'll go with him. But then I thought, 'What if he flies out of his The she noticed a ceramic baby Jesus Christmas ornament had fallen to the floor, but did not break. "We're alive.

We're so lucky." Chandra Hayslett 'It sounded like a freight train' One of the hardest-hit buildings in Jackson were the Imperial Courts Apartments on Hollywood Drive where Rory Davis lives. "I was lying in the bed and the next thing I knew, my window Gannett News Service Source: Paul Head, Services Corp. Tornadoes tear up region 'V one, said Sidney Williams, of 793 Campbell. "I stood in the back door and watched the tornado pick up my patio furniture, spin it around and drop it. It Hi Li AtriilliiiMl Hi Williams- was blown out and I had a tree in the bed with me," he said.

"People were screaming for help. You could hear the kids yelling and there was I A 1 III' It f. 4, yanked my grill out of the ground and turn it over, and that's a heavy grill." Williams, 51, said he was ready to leave out of the back door when the wind blew it open. "It took everything in me to close the door." He said the sky was "pitch Davis nothing you SWi 1 K-iViifriwtm CHRIS STANFIELDThe Jackson Sun 11 1 11 1 1 11 1111 1 1 1 1 1 Algjtlklllll, and a large black cloud." Williams' house suffered roof damage. There were shingles all over the front, side and back yard.

There is water damage in the kitchen, because of the rain after the tornado moved on. "It just means a new roof. I have insurance, so I'm OK." Chandra Hayslett The house started shaking' On Prince Drive, just off Hollywood, Michael Brown was in his house watching football oh TV. The lights went out, so he Residents of the Brookfield Apartments in Jackson begin the task of sifting through their belongings on Monday after a tornado ripped through the city Sunday evening. Eight people have been confirmed dead, six in Madison County and one each iri Henderson and Hardeman counties.

could do to help them until the tornado passed. "It sounded like a freight train coming through here. It only took about 10 seconds to do all of this damage," he said pointing to the apartment complex with its roof blown off. Davis, 29, said a small piece of tree limb became lodged in the front of his ankle. He managed to get to the hospital Sunday night to have it extracted.

He will have a limp until the scars heal. "They (authorities) won't let us go back in and get our stuff. I know I have some clothes or something that wasn't destroyed." "I don't have insurance. I lost everything. I guess I'm going to have to start over." Chandra Hayslett 'Like lumber crashing together' Willie Thomlison's son was watching, TV when the news came about the tornado heading for Jackson.

He was almost too late. "By the time I gathered everyone in the basement, the damage was done," said Thomlison, who moved to 325 W. walked to the kitchen to get candles. "Then the house started 1 shaking," Brown said. "I made it fc Continued from coVer Less than a quarter cf the total debris was visible Monday; Gist said.

"There's really some of it hidden in the ditches and people's back yards," he said. Searching for valuables Candace Rhodes, 15, spent much of her day Monday looking in a ditch. She was helping her grandmother, Doris Harris, look for family pictures, legal documents, anything they could salvage at Harris' tornado-torn home in South Jackson. "I found a lot of stuff back there," Rhodes said, "diplomas, clothes, food, pots and pans and the dog." Harris, 56, searched for her blood pressure pills and Lane College diploma while family and friends brought pickup trucks to the house she and her husband, Charlie, rented on Hart Bridge Road. The Harrises planned to move whatever they could salvage to their friends's houses for safekeeping.

The Harrises were at home Sunday hight when the tornado hit. The couple cowered in the hallway, with all the bedroom doors closed and they escaped injury. Police officers lengthened their shifts Sunday from eight to 12-hour stints, Holt said. Tennessee Highway Batrol sent 35 extra troopers to Jackson on Sunday night to help keep order. Looting was one of the biggest worries after the storm, but as of Monday night, there were no reports of looted stores or residences, said Capt.

Richard Hig-gins of Jackson Police, Someone trie4 to break into abandoned vehicles in South Jackson, on Sunday but police "got on them too quick," Higgins said. "I don't think they got away with anything." Higgins said no; arrests were made in the attempted break-in. Thousands lost power More than 27,500 West Tennessee residents were without power Sunday night. Jackson Utility Division restored power to all but about 1,000 of its 15,000 customers who lost power after the storm. Southwest Tennessee Electric Corp, reported 4,000 West Tennessee customers lacked power as of Monday afternoon and Gibson Electric Membership Corp.

had 960 people without power Monday, down from 6,000 on Sunday, Officials at three electric companies said they expected full power to be restored in the next days. Danny Wheeler, JUD senior vice president, said the Westover area had the worst damage to its power system, Between 50 and 60 workers' were out in the field fixing power lines Monday, he said. RMedia, Jackson's cable service provider, had about 8,000 customers without service Sunday. As of Monday afternoon, that number was at 3,600. BellSouth had at least 3,000 reports of telephone outages in West Tennessee.

Jackson, Halls, to the hallway before it hit." Brown. 29. Brown 1 -i rl j-iri nn rF his younger brother and listened as the twister ripped the kitchen off the back of his home. The i -i i. i 1 Tornado history in W.

Tennessee The Jackson Sun Tornadoes that hit West Tennessee on Sunday evening were out of season, considering most tornadoes in Tennessee occur during April and May. At least eight people died Sunday. The worst tornado in West Tennessee history struck the city of Henderson in 1952. Twenty-two people were killed in the storm, which, struck at 11:05 p.m. on March 21.

More than 100 homes were demolished. Jackson's first tornado or at least since 1916, when the National Weather Service started keeping records was on March 22, 1975. It sliced through the Sadler and Village mobile home parks and caused about $350,000 in damage. The city's second tornado hit on April 18, 1975., It killed a woman at the Parkway East Apartments, injuring 65 and left dozens homeless. Madison Countians had seen tornadoes before those in Jackson.

One hit at 8 p.m. March 11, 1923 and killed 10 people, while another struck at 3 a.m. Jan. 15, 1947 and killed two. pries worK ana rooi on rus uuuse are a mess.

He'll be living with his mother for a while. "It sounded like a train to me i i i A A 1. UM' Forest one month ago. A tree fell through the roof over the Thomlison's bedroom, creating a 30-foot hole in the ceiling. It would have ana lasieu auuui iu aetuuua, T) 'T miii, ii A ra a lnf Thomlison longer.

We were lucky. A friend of mine got messed up pretty bad somewhere else." Dan Morris Tm just glad I'm still here' TUn Dmf Unrmnn Hriflann ft Pi turned his porch light on Sunday nicjht before he left his house on Ei. Ulli, ni, lf i.ik.,.Ji.L.J 1 to visit friends. "When I got home, the light was gone, and everything else," Dodson said. "I'm just glad I'm still here." Monday Lexington and Bolivar were the hardest hit.

RMedia and BellSouth have to wait until JUD has all -of its service up before completing CHRIS STANFIELDThe Jackson Sun 1 don't even know where to said Jackson resident Randy Stevens, working to clean up outside his home after a Sunday evening tornado ripped through the city. crashed completely inside the home if they weren't having the attic finished. "We were having some construction done on the attic," and they had finished the floor," he said. "If it weren't for the floor, the tree would have been on the bed." Thomlison, 42, said the tornado knocked the roof off balance; windows were blown out; the meter attached to the back of his home was knocked to the ground and he found a shutter on North Highland Avenue, about one block away. "I didn't know what was happening.

I heard the tree fall, but I didn't know what it was. It sounded like lumber was crashing together." Thomlison had nine people in his home when the tornado touched down. He ran into a door frame trying to get everyone into the basement. -He has a large scratch under his left eye from the accident. Chandra Hayslett Dodson frrfh ML afternoon, a move wood that Jackson residents stack at the curb but not any material put there by private companies.

"We'll know the difference, trust me," Gist said. "There's a difference in the way (professionals) stack it, and our inspectors will be out." Jackson Sun reporters Rochelle Davis, Jacque Hillman and Kathy Thomas contributed to this report. landfill and a makeshift dump on -Hicks Street in Bemis; The land on Hicks Street is city-owned property that had previously been vacant, Gist said. Gist said residents who hire someone to cut down trees and brush11 from their yards should make workers haul away debris as part of the contract. He said city trucks will re dozen family and friends were at his house helping him load his possessions into a small moving van.

Dodson's daughter, Sharon Cawthon of Nashville, arrived to help pack. "My husband saw it on TV, and I got right on the phone to try and find him," she said of her father. "It was a relief to know he was safe." Dan Morris repairs. Gist In what is sure to be a month-long cleanup effort, a fleet of 30 city trucks will start picking up debris today, Gist said. Picking up debris Piles of branches, roof shingles and metal scraps will be transported to the Commerce Street.