Preliminary property assessments show over 1,000 structures were damaged, with at least 344 completely destroyed, in Hamilton County during the Sunday night and Monday morning tornado, causing at least $200-300 million in damage.
Early data released by the county's emergency management agency late Thursday showed that, with 9,282 structures surveyed so far, 1,630 were damaged within the county by the storms, which ravaged much of Southeast Tennessee and Northern Georgia and killed at least 11 people.
The county says assessed damage will grow as the effort continues. Officials say about a third, or 556, of the affected structures face minor damage, another 274 had major damage and 344 were destroyed.
On Wednesday, Chattanooga Fire Chief Phil Hyman said that most of the early damage estimate is concentrated in the East Ridge, East Brainerd and Ooltewah areas of the county.
"We're not done looking yet and there's a lot to go through, but it's going to be around there," Hyman told city officials Wednesday. "Obviously, it's too soon to know for sure."
Gov. Bill Lee said in a visit to Chattanooga Tuesday that he will seek a major emergency declaration from the president to benefit storm relief efforts in the area once the assessment is complete.
Numbers provided to the Times Free Press by emergency management on Thursday show that 438 individuals are sheltered at hotels across Chattanooga and Ooltewah after being displaced by the storm, and 16 additional families from the Auburn Hills Mobile Home Park are being moved to shelter late Thursday.
Contact Sarah Grace Taylor at staylor@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416. Follow her on Twitter @_sarahgtaylor.
The hexagons in the map below represent the average damage assessment score, with a higher number representing worse damage, of all structures within the area of that hexagon. The darker shades represent higher average damage assessments, according to Tim Moreland, Director of Performance Management and Open Data for the city of Chattanooga.