Strong storm roars through county

Jamie Shelton came home to his 1942 Fairfield Pike home Tuesday afternoon to find the branches of one tree wedged in the fork of another. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Despite the only 30 percent chance of rain forecasters predicted for Tuesday, a thunderstorm with lightning, heavy rain and high winds swept through Bedford County.

"I was driving home from Murfreesboro and it was raining so hard I couldn't see," said Jamie Shelton, a Draughons Junior College student who lives on Fairfield Pike.

When Shelton got home, he found the storm waiting for him. Massive branches had been twisted off one tree and slammed into the fork of another. The edges, like giant spears, pointed in every direction -- except one.

"Nothing hit the house," said Shelton. "Some of the outdoor furniture got thrown around. Some of it weighed 30 to 40 pounds and they just got tossed around. But there was no serious damage done to the house as far as I can tell."

After he arrived, and when the storm seemed to have moved on, another branch fell, inches from the driveway he'd just traveled.

Bedford County Sheriff's Deputy Allen Arnold was just a few yards up the road from Shelton's house, near more storm debris. A huge branch, the size of a medium tree, had fallen across Fairfield Pike and was blocking traffic. Deputies stationed themselves on both sides of the tree, lights flashing, to warn motorists of the hazard.

"We've got trees and lines down all over," said Arnold. "But nobody's been hurt that I've heard of."

It's the second time this year Fairfield Pike has suffered storm damage. A severe storm, including a tornado touchdown, ravaged the area April 11, causing a great deal of property damage.

In Shelbyville, on Hickory Drive, it was a smaller branch that got blown down by the high winds, but it did more damage. The limb caught a power line and brought it down, too, requiring the utilities department to come out and restore the line and service in the rain and lightning.

Megan Redd, 10, holds her sister, Brooklyn, 5, as they look at a tree that was struck by lightning in their Perfection Drive back yard. The big Bradford pear was split three ways down the middle. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

On Perfection Drive, the Redd family witnessed another effect of the storm -- lightning.

"It was about 1 in the afternoon," said Kelley Redd. "My daughter, the littlest one, said, 'The wind had blew the tree.'"

But Redd doesn't think it was the wind, and black char marks on the trunk indicate she's right -- lightning took down the huge Bradford pear.

"It split it right down the middle," she said. "I heard a big crack of thunder, but I was fixing lunch and didn't really notice. I'm going to miss that tree. It gave a lot of shade."

Redd pointed to an old, dead tree standing next to the green mountain of branches that used to be her pear tree, and laughed.

"It couldn't have hit that one, could it? It's dead and we're getting ready to take it out anyway."

One storm-related traffic injury was reported. Brenda Fanning, 22, of Shelbyville, suffered a knee injury when the car in which she was riding was struck by another vehicle which slid off Burt Street onto Belmont Avenue, police said.

The National Weather Service had called for a 30 percent chance of rain for Tuesday, with the warning that "there is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms ..." The chance of precipitation was upped to 50 percent for Tuesday night and 60 percent for today, with more thunderstorms possible.

A severe thunderstorm watch was in place in Bedford County until 7 p.m. Tuesday.