2/05/08 NOW: OK/TX/AR/MO/LA/MS/IL/KY/TN/AL/IN/OH

[Gerard Jebaily]

The president of Union university claimed that the womens dorms were completely destroyed, the mens dorms damaged and that 8 students were trapped but not seriously injured.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

news director of union univ on WKRN.

He says that the damage to campus is worse than that of the 2001 storm.
Also 75-80% of the vehicles on the campus of ~3300 are heavily damaged or destroyed.
AR Governor's office confirms seven fatalities.

 

[Justin E. Reed]

2 fatalities in Huntersville, TN, possibly the same storm that hit Jackson. The Nashville storm is really cranking some large hail out now, at least baseball sized, a confirmed wall cloud continues to tre with it.

 

[Gerard Jebaily]

7 confirmed dead in Arkansas

 

[Justin E. Reed]

Currently, Castillian Springs is getting nailed with high winds. Hartsville, they'll be just south of it, but easily able to see rotation for sure. Lafayette( pronounced Luh-fay-et) is definetly in the line of fire for this strongly rotating storm. The storm near Springfield in Robertson Co. has shown rotation in and out over the past 15 minutes, possibly could wrap it up and affect Portland in 30 minutes.

My grandma, in Inglewood, she has limbs down, knocked over fence, and her shed was moved 2 feet.

 

[Scott Lincoln]

Agreed on the Tennessee storm. Couplet looks alot tighter than before, and is at about 1500-2000ft on the radar. Looks like it might be rain-wrapped since the couple looks to be in the hook. This is triggering a yellow TVS in GR2Analyst. Seems like this one supercell is going on and on. Didn't this one start in the Memphis suburbs?

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Search underway for people that are "nowhere to be found" in the aftermath of the damaging Fairview TN area tornado. Williamson Co schools closed tomorrow.

EDIT: WKRN is reporting that Hichman Co deputies are having a hard time reaching the communities of Brushy and Etna.

EDIT2: Any status update on the chaser located near Gallatin as the storm came through?

 

[Justin E. Reed]

Seems like this one supercell is going on and on. Didn't this one start in the Memphis suburbs?[/QUOTE]


No, it started near Senatobia, MS, and produced an apparent violent tornado near Oxford, MS. So, lets see, about 210 miles so far, keeps truckin along.

Also, little kinks in the line near Louisville, KY are triggering tornado warnings, Louisville within 45min.

 

[David Drummond]

3rd party passed on from one of our members:

[paraphrased] "I saw a stovepipe tornado from two miles away, and it was almost unbelievable to witness. There is significant damage around my home [in Arkansas], some of which is EF-3 caliber."
~Heidi Farrar

 

[Sam Sagnella]

7 confirmed dead in Arkansas

Add to that at least four from TN, and three from KY. Oy.

EDIT: reports of an explosion in the Castillion Springs area in association with the passage of the tornado. Witness reports that "the sky is orange...so whatever is happening over there is obviously quite large." Info coming in as I write this is that the Columbia-Gulf pumping station is what took a hit.

 

[Justin E. Reed]

Unfortunately, a new line of storms from NNE of Jackson, down to Oxford, is starting to break up, into induvidual supercells now, adding insult to injury already. Specifically, Hardeman Co. and McNairy Co. are under the threat, and is strating to really wrap up and rotate. This could affect Nashville within about 2 hours. 3 search and rescue teams from Nashville, and 1 from brentwood are being dispatched to Fairview. Also, the storm is somehow the cause of a natural gas pumping station near Gallatin is on fire.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Add to that at least four from TN, and three from KY. Oy.

EDIT: reports of an explosion in the Castillion Springs area in association with the passage of the tornado. Witness reports that "the sky is orange...so whatever is happening over there is obviously quite large." Info coming in as I write this is that the Columbia-Gulf pumping station is what took a hit.

Report of a downed aircraft Wilson-Trousdale County line.

EDIT: Flames 400 feet tall in association with the fire on the Columbia Gulf Natural Gas Pipeline.

EDIT2: More info on that pipeline, which runs from the GoM to Ern KY. "Columbia Gulf Transmission operates a 4,200-mile pipeline system across Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky that include 13 compressor stations with more than a half million horsepower"

http://www.ngts.com/company/columbia-gulf.asp
This small aspect of this massive event may be a major news story.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Don't want to clog up the thread, but where did you hear the report of the downed aircraft at? I can't find any sources on that.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Don't want to clog up the thread, but where did you hear the report of the downed aircraft at? I can't find any sources on that.

I've been getting much of my central TN information from the live feed from WKRN-TV. They initially said that they received reports of "a downed aircraft" in that area and were sending crews to the scene; I haven't heard much about it since. There's a lot of significant news happening in the Nashville area related to this storm, so it may take longer to 'break' than it might in a different situation, but I've definitely got my ears peeled for more info on the matter.

EDIT: That pipeline fire is apparently visible from on the order of 20 to 25 miles.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Someone over at FARK who lives in Nashville went out, set up a tripod, and shot this photo of the natural gas fire that is 20 miles away:

http://img144.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc8475wg3.jpg

Apparently it's the Columbia Gulf pipeline, which is quite significant: