And another concern arises from this disaster:
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2020/03/03/tennessee-tornado-tore-20-barges-their-moorings-set-them-adrift/4940393002/At first, Bobby Campbell thought it was thunder.
Campbell, 78, who lives on the bank of the Cumberland River in the western outreaches of Nashville, woke early Tuesday morning to deafening, constant clatter behind his home.
More than a dozen massive metal barges were floating free on the river, igniting sparks as they clashed together like giant cymbals.
Barges, often loaded with fuel, float down the Cumberland past Campbell's house every day, but this was different. These barges had been torn from their moorings by a tornado that ripped through Middle Tennessee on Tuesday morning, and now they bobbed chaotically with a tugboat in pursuit.
"It was like a horror movie, and I'm not lying" Campbell said. "Scared me to death. I thought it was gonna blow up, because I knew what was in those barges. They may be empty, but they still have vapor in them."
As of Tuesday afternoon, only two barges — each at least 200 feet long — remained. Officials had caught the metal behemoths and
lashed them to a tree in Campbell's neighbor's backyard until they could be retrieved, smashing his dock in the process.
Officials from a Nashville barge docking facility confirmed 20 to 30 barges broke free during the powerful storms. Hines Furlong Line, which runs a docking facility near the John C. Tune Airport, said all the barges had all been located as of Tuesday afternoon.
"We have accounted for all the barges," said company president Kent Furlong. "There is no spills, no harm to the environment, no harm to individuals."
Despite assurances that no one was harmed, the barges prompted some fears.
On Tuesday morning, Metro Councilwoman Mary Carolyn Roberts became concerned the two barges that remained on the river's edge were leaking explosive fuel.
Roberts posted her fears on Facebook and began going door-to-door to recommend at nearby residents evacuate. Authorities never ordered an evacuation.
Furlong said there were
no spills and that the barges that came loose in the storm were empty or mostly contained grain, sand or fertilizers.