Roofers Slammed By Storm; Heed Those Severe Warnings, Folks!

Screen shot of construction workers hunkering down on a roof
as sheets of plywood fly by during a severe thunderstorm in
Nashville, Tennesee on Sunday. 

A month or so after a terrible tornado, a wicked severe thunderstorm rolled through Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday.

There wasn't a tornado this time, but it didn't matter. The National Weather Service office there recorded a wind gust of 72 mph during the storm, and I'm sure a couple places around the metro area reported winds of around 80 mph.

So yes, it was very dangerous.

National Weather Service in Nashville saw the storm coming and issued warnings well in advance, telling people to get indoors or else.

Anyone should have been wise to heed the warnings.  The storm proved once again that a severe thunderstorm warning is as serious as a tornado warning.

At least one person died in the storm, and there was a lot of property damage. The Tennessean reported at least 100,000 people were left without electricity from the storm, which is nearly double the number left without power in the tornadoes awhile back.

Quite a few buildings and houses were damaged or destroyed, and it seems like a zillion trees blew down.

Then there were the four roofers. I don't know if they didn't hear the storm warnings or just didn't heed them but they kept working as the dangerous storm approached.

A house was under construction in South Nashville, and the roofers were hammering plywood on what would become the three-story structure's roof.

They must have seen and heard the storm coming, as everyone in the neighborhood scurried inside as the skies darkened. But the roofers kept working, apparently wanting to get this Sunday job done as fast as possible.

As you can see in the video at the bottom of this post, that was a mistake.

According to television station WSMV, a neighbor, Tiffany Holt was filming the approaching storm from inside her home, near a window.

The storm hit in dramatic fashion with a wall of wind and rain. Several large sheets of plywood flew off the construction site, narrowly missing the roofers. One of those sheets of plywood might have actually hit one of  them, judging from the video.

The roofers lay down, and at least one of them fell through an opening in the unfinished roof ito the room below.   Meanwhile, blinding sheets of rain, mixed with roofing shingles, pieces of gutters and siding and tree branches continued to race by in the wind.

Holt said she could hear the men screaming in terror,

Luckily the storm was a fast mover and soon tapered off. She saw the men climb down after the storm eased and they were OK.

'We talked to them they were right here and said do you want to come in and take shelter. They wanted to get in the car and get out. So they were fine," Holt told WSMV. 

Yeah, but they were lucky they didn't get clobbered by one of those sheets of plywood. Coulda killed them.

When you hear a severe thunderstorm warning (None expected this week in Vermont, that's for sure!) get indoors and stay there until the danger passes.  These storms can be super dangerous.

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