Between 8:30 and 9 p.m., Morgan County Sheriff's Department deputies were reporting people missing, homes destroyed, power lines down and trees across many roads.
During the early morning hours, emergency personnel called off search-and-rescue efforts because of rain and darkness, but reports at that time indicated that several people were dead and many were injured.
A dispatcher with Central Dispatch in Roane County said this morning that search-and-rescue efforts resumed at 6 a.m. She said most of the damage in Morgan County was in the Mossy Grove area.
Mossy Grove is located between Petros, Wartburg and Harriman. One trailer park was destroyed and most of the search-and-rescue efforts were concentrated in that area.
Cecil Whaley, director of natural hazards with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, reported that the Morgan County storms had wiped out a mile-and-a-half-long stretch of the Mossy Grove area.
According to information from several agencies, most of Morgan County was without power and telephones throughout the night and this morning.
Oliver Springs Police Chief Kenneth Morgan said this morning that a cell tower went down, cutting off cellular phones use in Morgan County.
A dispatcher at Central said crews were working this morning to restore power to the radio tower and that emergency workers were using car and hand-held radios to relay information.
Storms came through the area about 8 p.m. and at least one tornado was reported touching down in the Mossy Grove area. By 9:15 p.m. Morgan County Sheriff's deputies were calling for manpower, trucks, chain saws and ambulances.
One deputy radioed Central Dispatch that there were many critical patients and he needed four or five ambulances. Deputies were also notifying dispatchers they were smelling an odor of natural gas in the Mossy Grove area and that trees were blocking many roads.
By 9:30 p.m. a call for mutual aid was sent out and Roane Medical Center in Harriman was put on disaster alert.
"It's total disaster," a Central dispatcher radioed when calling for mutual aid.
Emergency personnel from several counties responded to the call but were having problems getting to the area. Several places in Morgan County set up staging areas where emergency personnel were meeting. The civic center in Wartburg was set up for shelter and assistance.
The storm went through Anderson County and may have sparked another tornado in Medford community near Lake City.
Many trees and power lines went down in the area and the roof on the Medford Volunteer Fire Department was blown off.
"Trees were down all along 25 W from the four-lane (at Medford) into Lake City," said Anderson County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Lewis Ridenour. "We called in two deputies and one reserve to help. The biggest problem we had was the number of non-emergency calls to our dispatchers. I had to call in extra dispatchers to help with the calls."
Ridenour said no injuries had been reported in Anderson County and that power had been restored to Medford. He said the county's Emergency Management department set up a shelter at Anderson County High School but that clogged drains caused flooding and made it hard to get in and out of the facility.
Steve Payne, director of Anderson County Emergency Management, said this morning that 30 or 40 people went to Anderson County High School shortly after the storm passed through Medford.
"The Red Cross staffed it and brought provisions," Payne said. "Most of the people were seeking shelter but went home as the weather broke. We shut it down (the shelter) about 2:30 a.m."
Payne said volunteer firefighters were still working in the Medford and Briceville areas this morning. He said he had no reports of injury but had heard that a firefighter died of a heart attack during the emergency.
"The volunteer fire departments really stepped up," Payne said.
Flooding was also reported on many roads in Anderson County. Parts of Dutch Valley, Marlow and Oak Ridge reported flooded roads about midnight.
About 10 p.m. the second storm came through and Morgan County was hit again with golf-ball-size hail and more wind. More trees and power lines were reported down.
Roane County was also hit by the second storm. Roane County emergency personnel were sent to the Riggs Chapel Road area of Harriman and the Cherokee area of Kingston where trees blocked the roads and caused power lines to go down. Emergency personnel reported by radio that a tornado had touched ground on Riggs Chapel Road. An electrical power line caused a forest fire near Airport Road off Interstate 40 near Rockwood shortly after midnight.
Morgan County emergency personnel radioed each other to take cover in the Mossy Grove area. They were again reporting hail and another tornado on the ground.
By 11:30 p.m. the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross were sending personnel to Mossy Grove.
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