Tennessee Proud After Tornadoes

Volunteers move debris this weekend to help victims of the
devastating tornadoes in Tennessee that struck Tuesday.

Can I just say I'm totally impressed with the people of Tennessee?

As you well know, tornadoes slammed central Tennessee last week, causing at least 24 deaths and spreading destruction through huge swaths of the state.  

In every disaster, people step up to help those who were hit.  I remember the wonderful outpouring of support here in Vermont when extreme flooding from Tropical Storm Irene wrecked many communities here in the Green Mountain State back in 2011. Vermont Strong, right?

The reaction was just as glorious in Tennessee after the tornadoes.  Tennessee's nickname is "The Volunteer State" and it has certainly lived up to its reputation in the past few days.

On Saturday, so many thousands of people turned out to help with recovery in and near Nashville that some were turned away and told to come back in a few days. They'll be needed, as this mess will take a long time to clean up.

Also, the urge to volunteer is so great that cars belonging to the Good Samaritans started blocking the way for trucks deployed to clear debris.  So Nashville set up a nice shuttle bus system for the volunteers. 

The huge tornado chewed its way from near Nashville and  blasted its way toward the town of Cookeville, Tennessee.  The twister swept houses away just west of downtown Cookeville, killed several people and just laid waste to the landscape.

The tornado had traveled about 60 miles eastward toward Cookeville. Just before it hit the community's downtown, it abruptly, miraculously dissipated. The scientists out there say another, weaker tornado forming nearby robbed the monster tornado of its energy source, causing it to collapse.

That's probably true, but it still feels like an almost supernatural miracle.

Small piece of debris pulled up into the air rained down on undamaged neighborhoods sometimes miles from the tornado path. Some of that "debris" was precious - family photos and momentoes torn from homes and scattered to the winds.

Anyway, a coffee shop in downtown Cookeville, spared from the tornado, stepped up to help in a wonderful way.  People who find photos on their property can bring them to the Soul Craft coffee shop in Cookeville. They're put in the box, and people can come in and look through the salvaged photos to see if any of them are theirs.

 Here's a news story on that coffee shop: