More than half of the city of Whitwell, Tenn., is without power tonight, said Todd Brown, fire chief for Whitwell Volunteer Fire Department.
Brown estimated that roughly 400 homes were without power at 10 p.m. because of the thunderstorms that are rolling through the area. He said fallen trees or large limbs had been reported at least 10 locations within the city limits.
The worst damage, Brown said, is on West Spring Avenue and Incline Road, where poles are broken and several trees are down.
"We've had to use a backhoe and chainsaws to move the trees, and citizens have helped move smaller ones," Brown said.
Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative is currently working on restoring power in the area. A recording was set at 7:08 p.m. on the company's after-hours outage report line to let customers know technicians were working on repairing the damage caused by a breaker being down at the Pikeville substation. The recording stated that there was no estimate for when power would be restored.