The storms and tornadoes, part of a broader stretch of severe weather that swept across the South over the weekend, left a swath of destruction that included parts of Clarksville, near the Kentucky border, where three people died, and communities around Nashville, where three others were killed.<\/p>\n
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Houses damaged by a tornado in Clarksville, Tennessee.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>NYT<\/cite><\/p>\n Clarksville, Nashville and other Tennessee cities and towns were working to clear away debris on Monday (AEDT) from a landscape where pink insulation clung to tree limbs, children\u2019s toys lay crumpled and flags had been shredded to ribbons.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to watch what has happened, to talk to the victims, to be on the ground,\u201d said Governor Bill Lee at a news conference in Madison, after touring damage from the storm. Lee, who has declared a state of emergency, said the state had begun the formal process of seeking disaster aid from the federal government.<\/p>\n Officials in Montgomery County, which includes Clarksville, said two adults and one child had died as a result of a tornado. Officials were conducting secondary searches and preparing for the next phase of recovery.<\/p>\n Jimmie Edwards, chief of Montgomery County Emergency Services, said 62 injured people had been taken to medical facilities, including nine who were transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Centre and were in a critical condition.<\/p>\n Residents said the midday tornado took them by surprise, giving them little time to seek shelter.<\/p>\n Eric Dzidotor has been able to visit the piles of debris in Clarksville where his home had stood. Dzidotor said he had moved into the house two years ago with his wife, their three children, his mother in-law and his brother in-law.<\/p>\n His mother-in-law was now in the hospital with injuries she suffered during the storm, he said. His brother-in-law, who was 26, did not survive.<\/p>\n During the storm, winds carried Dzidotor from the upstairs of his house to his neighbour\u2019s yard, injuring his back.<\/p>\n When he landed on the ground and the rain began to pour down, he called for his family. He pulled his daughters, ages 2, 4 and 17, from their collapsed house, one of them with an injured leg, before trying unsuccessfully to rescue his brother-in-law.<\/p>\n In Clarksville, Rachel Tunstall and her husband were pulling their cars out from under what had been their roof Sunday, just two months after they got married and moved into their apartment.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was our bedroom,\u201d Tunstall, 33, said, pointing to a space now missing a wall and a ceiling.<\/p>\n Minutes after seeing the tornado warning on her phone, Tunstall had heard the winds, felt pressure in her ears and told her husband they needed to shelter in their downstairs half-bathroom.<\/p>\n Outside what was left of her unit on Monday (AEDT), she packed plastic containers with items that could be salvaged, including Christmas ornaments that the newlyweds had recently hung.<\/p>\n \u201cMy husband and I are both OK,\u201d Tunstall said, \u201cand that is the blessing\u201d.<\/p>\n