Among those impacted by the tornadoes in Nashville was The Basement East, the club co-owned by former Chattanooga Dave Brown.
The club's Twitter account @BasementEast posted around 3 a.m. that all staff that had been working Monday night was safe, but the building had sustained "significant damage," which later pictures posted online confirm.
The club's Facebook page said the building had been destroyed, "but we will be back!"
A later post let fans know that Tuesday night's Elohim show had been cancelled and a later post had more detail about future shows.
It read: "We are diligently working on each show to either relocate or cancel. We will send updates out to ticket holders, on our website and social media as we determine the status of each show. Please bear with us as this process could take a few days to weeks.
"Love you Nashville!"
Attempts to reach Brown were unsuccessful.
Several followers, including the Ryman Auditorium @theryman, which wrote "Love you guys," responded with well wishes and questions about how to help rebuild. Those sentiments were echoed by Chattanoogans reaching out on Twitter and Facebook, as well.
Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee early Tuesday, shredding at least 40 buildings and killing at least 22 people. One of the twisters caused severe damage across downtown Nashville.
Wanderlinger Brewing Company in Chattanooga joined the Tennessee Brewers Guild and other Tennessee breweries by posting that $1 of every pint bought Tuesday will be given to the The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee toward relief efforts. You can also donate directly to the Community Foundation.
Airbnb has activated its Open Homes Program in and around Nashville to help those displaced by the recent tornado and relief workers deployed to help. The program connects Airbnb hosts who are willing and able to provide free housing to displaced residents and disaster relief workers in the activation area.
The Open Homes Program is available through March 24 in Nashville and surrounding areas, including the counties of Benton, Caroll, Davidson, Wilson, Putnam, and Gibson. Go here for more information: www.airbnb.com/tntornado20.
Tony Hullender, a Signal Mountain resident who commutes between Chattanooga and his job in the state Attorney General's office in Nashville, called his family to let them know that although the tornado struck two blocks from his Germantown apartment, he is fine. His apartment is undamaged, but without power. Hullender walked a mile through obstacles such as storm debris and road closures to get to work Tuesday morning.
Rae Young Bond, executive director of Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society, was in Nashville Monday night to attend an early morning meeting on Tuesday. The tornado damaged the downtown hotel on North First Street in which she was staying.
"Just spent some quality time sheltering in the bathroom as the Nashville tornado hit my hotel," she posted on Facebook. She is uninjured, but her car sustained damage.
Bledsoe County Road Superintendent Robby Roberson, who was in Nashville overnight for a two-day legislative conference of the Tennessee County Services Association, said his hotel was about half a mile from the tornado's path through downtown, but he "slept right through the whole thing."
Others at the conference told him that guests at the host hotel, the Davidson County DoubleTree, a block away from where he stayed, were evacuated to the basement for about an hour as a precaution during the storm. The DoubleTree and many other businesses lost power, and many restaurants in the tourist area were posting "Closed" signs early Tuesday morning to focus on cleanup, Roberson said. The remainder of the conference was canceled, he said, so he was able to return to Pikeville early.
Workers at his hotel, Homewoodsuites, on Church Street, were giving travelers advice for the safest routes out of Nashville. Roberson had planned to return home via I-40 East but was told portions of the interstate were closed because "[semi] trucks were blown over." He returned via I-24 and had no trouble leaving Nashville using that route, he said.
As county road superintendent, Roberson said he checks the Weather Channel on his phone regularly, but was not expecting such a storm to develop overnight based on the last forecast he saw. By the time he went to bed around 10, he said, "All they were calling for was storms and heavy rain."
This is a developing story. Stay with the Times Free Press for updates.
