Stories from the April 16, 1998 Tornado

I'll never forget anything about that day. I was working in my little shop (Fusion) on Woodland Street which was in the space that now occupies 3 Crow Bar.

My phone rang and a friend of mine on the other end of the line informed me that a big storm was headed towards East Nashville. I walked outside to take a look and the sky over downtown was like nothing I've ever seen before. A thick layer of black clouds were swirling over the buildings and the sky surrounding the clouds turned a peculiar shade of yellow. In a matter of seconds, the winds picked up and I found myself wondering where to go. There was no basement in that building, so I went back inside my shop and watched for a few moments out the front door.

The winds increased in strength and the next thing I saw was the roof over the gas pumps at the Citgo across the street fold in half like a piece of bread. My car, which was parked in front of the building that is now Margot Cafe, was blowing sideways down the street. I remember pushing the sofa I had for sale in my shop about two feet away from the wall and I laid on the floor between the wall and the couch.

The sound of the wind was deafening and the noise of destruction all around me put me in a survival mode I've never felt before or after this tornado. It came through quickly and fiercely and left a trail of broken trees, power poles, electrical lines, and housing debris that I had to slowly and carefully climb over to get home. And wouldn't you know, I wore a dress that day.

The trek home, which on a normal day would take about 10 minutes, took an hour and a half. All I could think about was whether or not my dog was okay and although she was shaking worse than I was when I arrived, she was miraculously unharmed.

And although the devastation from this tornado destroyed so much in its path, it only strengthened the spirit and generous will of all the neighbors who were largely responsible for building East Nashville back to what it is today.



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