Clarksville, TN – Monday, December 9th, 2024, will mark the one-year anniversary of a devastating and deadly tornado that ripped through a roughly 12-mile swath of north Clarksville.
It’s a day that will forever live in the annals of local, and even national history.
Prior to that date, one year ago, natural disasters of several types had already been part of the community’s memory. But this time, there would be loss of life along with extensive property damage.
The north Clarksville tornado of December 9th was part of a major severe weather outbreak in Tennessee, and the Southeastern U.S., on that Saturday afternoon.
In its official records of the day, the National Weather Service recorded that a historic December tornado outbreak unfolded across the Southeastern U.S., leading to multiple tornadoes across the state of Tennessee.
Multiple counties experienced their first December tornado on record, including Montgomery and Robertson counties. Thousands of homes were impacted by the storms in some capacity, with many businesses affected as well as widespread tree and powerline damage.
Of note, nearly 1,000 homes were impacted, including 114 homes destroyed and 268 homes with major damage in the Montgomery County EF-3 tornado alone.
On that nightmarish day in Tennessee, that Montgomery County EF-3 tornado resulted in four deaths and 62 injuries.
The tornado in Clarksville first touched down on Fort Campbell, just north of the Sabre Army Airfield, initially causing mostly minor tree damage.
But it quickly intensified as it crossed Walnut Grove Road and destroyed a building next to a church. The tornado then continued northeast and damaged dozens of homes in a neighborhood along Garrettsburg Road near Purple Heart Parkway.
Then, the tornado went through a heavily wooded neighborhood south of Britton Springs Road where dozens of mobile and manufactured homes were destroyed. The tornado crossed into another neighborhood causing heavy damage in and near Eva Drive, with several houses shifted off their foundations.
The tornado intensified to EF-3 strength, with winds of 140 mph, as it crossed Highway 41 and struck several commercial businesses, including a vacant fast food restaurant and strip mall where only the interior remained.
Just east of Highway 41, north of Ringgold Road, another neighborhood was struck with several homes sustaining significant damage. As the tornado continued northeast, it strengthened further to 150 mph, destroying four, two-story brick and vinyl siding homes on Henry Place Boulevard.
Debris was blown across the field towards West Creek Elementary School where the school sustained roof damage. As the tornado crossed Peachers Mill Road, two dozen brand new, two-story brick apartment homes were severely damaged with roofs missing on at least a dozen of these structures.
Dozens-more houses suffered significant roof damage along and near Needmore Road and Tiny Town Road, as the tornado was at EF-2 strength. The tornado then crossed Interstate 24 at Trenton Road where numerous cedar trees were uprooted.
Continuing across Tylertown Road, the tornado caused EF-1 and EF-2 roof and siding damage to dozens of homes across three neighborhoods, before moving into Kentucky.
Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts recalled how the tornado struck during the early-afternoon daylight hours, making it easy to view and be captured on video.
“Earlier in the day, really no one was expecting the storm to be that bad. I can remember that when it happened, I was at home, and suddenly my cell phone began to ring, and I was getting text messages about damage, and wind, and tornadoes spotted, and then as the day and evening progressed, it just got worse,” Mayor Pitts said.
The Montgomery County Emergency Operations Center opened in downtown Clarksville on First Street. “I went down there before dark, and stayed until late that night,” Mayor Pitts said.
He and Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden toured the damaged area early the next morning, Sunday, December 10th, 2023, along with the local state legislative delegation, emergency first responders … “and it was surreal on two fronts,” Mayor Pitts said.
“First of all, the damage. The term, ‘war zone’ is often overused in events such as this, but literally, it was devastation like I have never seen close up, before.
“It’s often easy to try and compare it to the downtown Clarksville tornado of January 1999, and that earlier tornado was bad because it hit a very concentrated area … but this tornado of December 2023 was so widespread, everywhere you looked there was debris.
“There were foundations with no structures on them. We walked around that morning of December 10th, 2023, surveying the scene, and it was eerily quiet, and it was a cold December morning, as we went down Britton Springs Road and Eva Drive, and Batts Lane.
“Then we moved over to Henry Place and off Needmore Road onto Charles Thomas Drive. What we saw was that this kind of devastation is no respecter of persons. We saw low- to- moderate-income neighborhoods devastated, and just across town we saw an upper-middle-income neighborhood with homes that were wiped off their foundations, or at least in an uninhabitable state.
“Two things I remember vividly … how quiet it was that morning after the day of the tornado, and when we walked down on Batts Lane it was so quiet you could hear a smoke alarm beeping on one of the houses that was destroyed. The only thing standing was one wall, and part of another one,” Mayor Pitts said.
And then, he said, there was a little 7-year-old girl named Ellie, standing out in the driveway of her home in the heavily-damaged neighborhood.
“I will never forget Ellie. At the time of the tornado we were just 15 days away from Christmas, and she stood there among the destruction, and sang a Christmas song for us. She belted out the most beautiful song you’d ever heard — ‘All I Want For Christmas is You.’ She sang it in a way that brought tears to your eyes.
“So, amid the destruction and devastation, in a situation that was seemingly hopeless for many people, little Ellie was showing us the way,” Mayor Pitts said.
“We lost four of our citizens in this tornado. One little boy whose funeral Cynthia and I attended, was so hard. But his parents told wonderful stories about him.”
One year later, recovery from the December 2023 tornado continues. The response has been local, statewide, and even nationwide.
“I was very optimistic and grateful that we saw people from throughout our community, region, and really the whole country coming out to help with recovery. Bringing chainsaws and trucks, wanting to know what they could do,” Mayor Pitts said.
“Fort Campbell has been a huge part of our recovery. The Commanding General (Brett) Sylvia called, and said, ‘We’ve got trucks and people, and they’ve got tools. Where do you want us?’
“That Monday after the Saturday of the tornado, we really had more volunteers than we needed, because we were not quite ready for the flood of volunteers. But we had people cooking meals, the Red Cross showed up in a big way, our faith community did a great job responding … so it was like everyone was following the same script,” he said.
Then, the Federal Emergency Management and Tennessee Emergency Management agencies arrived, and Clarksville-Montgomery County began to pick up the pieces from a deadly disaster.
A Clarksville-Montgomery County Long-Term Tornado Recovery Group within the community was formed that, at this writing, is still making sure help is getting to the affected families.
Nearing the one-year anniversary of the tornado, most affected families have either rebuilt, found new housing, or have begun rebuilding.
According to Michelle Austin, who has been leading the City’s response as Director of Clarksville Neighborhood & Community Services, about 20 families residing in the City are awaiting home reconstruction and many more are receiving case management support as they fully recover.
“Until they get the help they need, and want, we won’t stop,” Mayor Pitts said. “Even if it takes 10 years.”
