Dick Ridge walked around his apartment complex Wednesday, gathering pieces of glass into a basket.
"See that glass?" Ridge said, looking around at tiny shards mixed with other debris on the ground. "It's mine, or at least some of it is, I think."
Ridge and many of his neighbors were trying to pick up the pieces Wednesday morning in the aftermath of the tornado that touched down in their LakeShore on the Hill Apartments complex the night before.
Ridge lost a glass-top table in the storm, but compared to other residents in the Hixson complex, he considers himself lucky.
He and his neighbor, Lori Jill Willson, said several apartments were severely damaged, while other residents found their vehicles tossed around by the tornado, which hit about 7 p.m. Tuesday.
In preliminary ratings, the National Weather Service is calling the tornado an EF2, which has winds of 111-135 mph.
On Wednesday, a city building inspector declared the complex's B and C buildings -- about 50 apartments -- as uninhabitable, leaving dozens of residents scrambling for a place to stay. The buildings' status will remain until repairs are completed and inspected, officials said.
Senior building inspector Ed Martin said there was significant structural damage to the B building and significant damage to the wiring in the C building.
According to city officials, the Red Cross had temporary shelters available for displaced residents.
In the complex, glass, tree limbs, pieces of roofing and siding and other debris blanketed the streets, parking lots and ground around the B and C buildings.
On the B building, one of the top corners was destroyed, with most of the roof ripped away and a large section of bricks missing from a side wall.
Pieces of debris from nearby construction sites hung from the treetops on the hill leading into the complex.
Yet just down from LakeShore on the Hill, buildings in another complex were unscathed.
The area from the apartments down to the Chickamauga Dam was a hotbed of activity on Wednesday, with workers picking up debris, removing downed trees and working to restore electricity and cable TV service.
Ridge said his apartment wasn't damaged badly. While he had some water damage from a leaking roof, he was able to stay there throughout Tuesday night.
From his third-floor balcony the night before, Ridge saw the tornado coming from a distance. He yelled at Willson to take cover before heeding his own warning and running downstairs to the laundry room on the ground floor. Ridge said he braced the laundry-room door with his hands to keep it from blowing open until the storm passed.
"It was coming right at us," Ridge said. "I didn't hang around to see any more than I did."
From her first-floor apartment, Willson watched the funnel cloud form and begin to bob toward the ground.
When she first saw the funnel, she initially thought it was beautiful. But the beauty turned ugly as the tornado ripped a tree from its roots and the sound of car alarms filled the air.
"I could see a tree blow away," Willson said. "I knew it was time to go hide."
At the next apartment building, Greg Voss works as a live-in aide for an elderly resident. He had heard reports that a storm was coming, but its arrival was still unexpected.
"It was quiet as can be, then everything went loose," Voss said. "It was dark and hectic afterward."
On the far side of the Tennessee River on Hickory Lane, Toni Cole, Voss' ex-wife, watched the tornado hit.
"I was looking outside when I saw it (the tornado) touch down on the other side of the river," Cole said. "I just thought 'Oh, my God!' and ran down to the basement."
Cole said she called Voss to make sure he was all right.
Neither Voss, Willson nor Ridge live in the B or C buildings.