NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tornadoes tore through Tennessee and Arkansas Thursday, blowing out windows and ripping off roofs in downtown Nashville and splintering mobile homes in rural areas earlier in the day.
Four people, including a little brother and sister, were killed in rural parts of Arkansas and Tennessee.
The earlier storm hit Manila, in northeastern Arkansas about 230 miles west of Nashville, about 3 a.m., killing Casey Lomax, 3, and Brittany Lomax, 5. Their parents were injured.
An hour later, a tornado spawned by the same storm killed Paul and Peggy Kolwyck in Roellen, Tenn., about 50 miles east of Manila. Their bodies were found 200 to 250 feet from their trailer home, which was torn apart.
Thursday afternoon another tornado struck Nashville. About 100 people were injured.
Cecil Whaley of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said most of the injuries were from flying glass and none was believed life-threatening.
Whaley said it appeared a single tornado touched down east of downtown at about 3:45 p.m. and then skipped across the city for 3 or 4 miles.
Gov. Don Sundquist declared Nashville a disaster area. Several state buildings were damaged, including the Capitol and the James K. Polk office building.
The Tennessee Oilers’ football stadium, which is about one-third complete, also was damaged.
The twisters were part of a series of storms that hit Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee late Wednesday and Thursday. More than two dozen people were injured in the earlier storms, and 65 railroad cars were knocked off the track near Flora, Ill.