What happened below ground on Benton Pike in Cleveland, Tennessee, was nothing like what was happening up above. Five people, from two families, gathered in the basement of the Church of Jesus Christ International on April 12 to wait out the severe storms moving into the area.
The power went out at one point, and the people there could hear the wind but not much else. When the storm passed, they called the church's pastor, Dennis Hicks. They walked up the stairs carrying candles for light and described to him what they saw. The church's office was fine, they told him. Then they tried to enter the sanctuary.
Hicks knew then he had to rush to the building.
"They said, 'Oh God, the whole thing inside is gone,'" Hicks said.
In the nighttime hours, Hicks and other church members saw what they could using car headlights and flashlights. As the darkness gave way to the morning light, the true scope of the damage became clear.
"It was devastating," Hicks said. "It was bad. Church people were crying."
The rubble of the church was waist-high in parts of the sanctuary, Hicks said. One wall was blown out and the other blown into the church. Evidence of a recent remodeling project was scattered throughout the area. Pieces of the new chandeliers were shattered in the parking lot.
The church was one of hundreds of buildings affected by the April 12 tornadoes in the Southeast. Around 11:45 p.m. that night an EF2 tornado with wind speeds up to 115 mph hit Bradley County. The 500-yard-wide tornado was on the ground for five minutes, destroying or damaging at least 120 homes. Six people were injured, but no one died from the storm.
Last week, Bradley County Mayor Gary Davis said about 30 families are in need of long-term housing because their homes are unlivable. Davis and other local leaders, including U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, toured the damaged area last week and met with Hicks.
Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Tennessee 3rd District Rep. Chuck Fleischmann hands Pastor Dennis W. Hicks a donation check outside of The Church of Jesus Christ International on Overhead Bridge Road on Thursday, April 16, 2020 in Cleveland, Tenn. Late Sunday, an EF-3 tornado struck the area, badly damaging the Church, Hicks says after speaking to their insurance company, the church will not be covered for the incident. Paul Burgess and his wife Dortha were in the basement when the storm hit. They had made the five-minute drive to the shelter several times before when tornado warnings were out in the area because there are several large trees surrounding their home.
Burgess said the group stayed in the basement for more than an hour, even though what little they could hear lasted less than a minute. The 71-year-old was among the first to see the wreckage of his church.
"It was just a couple seconds, and it was gone," Burgess said.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ International are waiting to hear if the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide any rebuilding funds since the church was a designated storm shelter. Otherwise, the Cleveland house of worship will be on its own to rebuild. The church did not have insurance, Hicks said, a mistake he did not realize he was making and one that he will not make again.
"It caught me really unaware and off guard," he said. "I could not, in my imagination, visualize anything like that happening there. That was the farthest thing from my mind that could happen. I might have thought about vandalism. But a tornado? No."
The pastor emphasized the church will rebuild, no matter how long it takes to raise the funds.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.