Wow...I am really glad I stumbled upon this. Me and my family moved to Tullahoma back in 2003 and are now living in Franklin Co/Tullahoma City. Very close to the Airforce base. I have been fascinated by the tornados that hit back in 74 ever since I read about them on Wikipedia. I have had a pretty bad tornado phobia since I lived in the Inglewood area of East Nashville back when they had the bad tornado outbreak of 98. Our neighborhood got lucky, but just a 5-10 min drive away and it was disaster. My phobia is almost crippling. I have panic attacks when the weather gets too bad and lets just say I am constantly checking the weather and have slept in my hallway LOTS. I have always wondered if this area would get hit again hard the way it did back in 74 and that thought is terrifying to me. I have always kind of felt like it would, but was only a matter of when. April 27th was a scary day for me. One of the tornados coming up from AL looked like it was headed right toward Tullahoma on the radar and then there were warnings for Franklin Co when the storm reached us. I could hear the wind...it sounded like it was whirring...spiraling, we didn't get any damage, but the sound of the wind wasn't normal. I feel like something was out there even if only in the distance. I still am not sure if our area experienced a tornado that day/night, but I do know that there are trees down just outside of town on the way to Shelbyville according to my husband. Oddly, people in Tullahoma are finding photos in their yards carried all the way from AL, which makes me wonder if maybe it did in fact pass through here, possibly not hitting the ground when it got here?
One question that I've had for a while, but never have had answered is where exactly was the path of the 74 tornados? I know it was in Estill Springs, but does anyone know the exact path it followed, like the roads? I've always been curious about that....
Anyways thanks so much for posting this, it was very interesting to say the least!
Apr 30, 2011 Rating
Thank you by: Anonymous
Wow...I am really glad I stumbled upon this. Me and my family moved to Tullahoma back in 2003 and are now living in Franklin Co/Tullahoma City. Very close to the Airforce base. I have been fascinated by the tornados that hit back in 74 ever since I read about them on Wikipedia. I have had a pretty bad tornado phobia since I lived in the Inglewood area of East Nashville back when they had the bad tornado outbreak of 98. Our neighborhood got lucky, but just a 5-10 min drive away and it was disaster. My phobia is almost crippling. I have panic attacks when the weather gets too bad and lets just say I am constantly checking the weather and have slept in my hallway LOTS. I have always wondered if this area would get hit again hard the way it did back in 74 and that thought is terrifying to me. I have always kind of felt like it would, but was only a matter of when. April 27th was a scary day for me. One of the tornados coming up from AL looked like it was headed right toward Tullahoma on the radar and then there were warnings for Franklin Co when the storm reached us. I could hear the wind...it sounded like it was whirring...spiraling, we didn't get any damage, but the sound of the wind wasn't normal. I feel like something was out there even if only in the distance. I still am not sure if our area experienced a tornado that day/night, but I do know that there are trees down just outside of town on the way to Shelbyville according to my husband. Oddly, people in Tullahoma are finding photos in their yards carried all the way from AL, which makes me wonder if maybe it did in fact pass through here, possibly not hitting the ground when it got here?
One question that I've had for a while, but never have had answered is where exactly was the path of the 74 tornados? I know it was in Estill Springs, but does anyone know the exact path it followed, like the roads? I've always been curious about that....
Anyways thanks so much for posting this, it was very interesting to say the least!
Aug 20, 2009 Rating
rotation is scary...u never know if it will form by: Anonymous
i love your story....i too live in northern franklin county (rock creek rd)in tullahoma...when the april 10 2009 tornado(s)hit murfreesboro at 12 or 1.... i was saddened by the deaths of the woman and baby, and just as i was in disbelief of the situation.. storms were on me and my family...i remember watching the weather and noticing some familiar patterns in the weather radar on my computer and tv..and i kept walking outside looking at the clouds and coming back in again...at around 330 i went out and noticed the sky was all messed up....clouds were beginning to rotate ....so been i live in a trailor park i told my wife and 3 small children to get in the van and just as i did the tv said possible rotation in northern franklin county over blue creek rd..i looked in the sky on last time and seen it swirling in all kinds of directions ..so i went outside jumped in the van and took off towards tullahoma about 1 mile up the road.. by the time i got about a half of a mile down the road it was hailing baseball size hail busting my windshield and knocking dents on the hood and roof of our van...my wife was so scared ....i never made it to the main rd (jackson st) that day because the hail was so bad i had to pull over in someones driveway...but i realized that god had spared my family that day .....if that rotation had of touched the ground it would have probably been over a mile wide tornado leaving us nowhere to go...so today i watch the weather closer and dont wait till the rotation is right on us, i seek shelter at my sisters house in estill (with a basement) or walmart....i tell my wife that a tornado can take you at walmart too... but i guess she feels more comfortable around a place where alot of other people will die with us if something was to happen ......i dont know...at the least,thanks for your story .....we live in a tornado belt also huh.....p.s. i remember the huntsville tornado.... and my oldest sister told me about the ones in 1974....god bless and peace out bro. tommy elliott
