Tennessee towns begin cleanup; death count rises to 12

The storm damage in the Gallatin area was considerable as vehicles were thrown into buildings by high winds. Nine people died in Sumner County.

?We?ll get on our feet again,? Bernard Tavers said as he surveyed the demolished homes and piles of rubble in his neighborhood.

Officials had initially reported 11 killed, but later determined one death was not related to the storm, state Emergency Management Agency spokesman Randy Harris said Saturday. Another two people died overnight in a Gallatin hospital, he said.

Crews worked to clear away the wreckage and restore services, but some people could be without electricity for a week, officials said.

Police patrolled the wrecked neighborhoods Saturday, but there had been no reports of looting. Bystanders were warned not to smoke because of leaking gas.

The tornado?s path through the Gallatin area was 150 to 200 yards wide and at least 10 miles long, said Jimmy Templeton of the Sumner County Sheriff’s Department.

Talmadge Woodall described the twister that destroyed his house Friday afternoon as ?rolling, throwing debris hundreds of feet in the air.? He lived in an upscale subdivision of Gallatin.

?These were at least half-million-dollar homes or better,? said Woodall, 81. ?Now there?s nothing left. I didn?t even have a shingle off my house.?

Nine people were killed in Sumner County and three were killed in Warren County. Hospitals admitted at least 60 people with storm-related injuries.

Warren County Executive Kenneth Rogers said the people killed there were found inside destroyed mobile homes. There were no other reported injuries from the two tornadoes that struck there, he said.

Last weekend, violent weather including tornadoes killed 24 people in western Tennessee and four others in Missouri and Illinois.

Nashville Electrical Service reported hundreds of electrical lines down and power outages for up to 16,000 customers, mostly in Goodlettsville. The number of customers blacked out was down to about 1,100 early Saturday, officials said. Some people might have to wait a week for their power lines to be rebuilt, NES spokeswoman Laurie Parker said.

The number of tornadoes in the United States is up dramatically this year compared with the past few years, which were unusually mild, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

Through the end of March, an estimated 286 tornadoes had hit the United States, compared with an average of 70 for the same three-month period in each of the past three years. The number of tornado-related deaths was 38 before Friday?s storms, compared to an average of 45 a year from 2003 to 2005, the center said.