Anderson County avoids serious storm damage
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This tree fell on a home in Heiskell during the storm that moved through the area early Monday. No injuries were reported. - Anderson County EMA Director Joe Mead
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The Museum of Appalachia had to delay its opening on Monday morning while this tree was removed from the entrance driveway off Andersonville Highway in Norris. The tree fell during the storm that move through early Monday. - Anderson County EMA Director Joe Mead
A major spring storm that brought a line of thunderstorms and howling winds through the area Sunday night and early Monday mostly spared Anderson County from any serious problems, authorities reported.
“For the most part, Anderson County was very fortunate to escape major damage,” County Mayor Terry Frank said Monday afternoon.
“Currently, EMA has reports of trees down on two homes, one in Heiskell and one in Oak Ridge,” she said. “The winds took trees and/or branches down around the county, and the Highway Department and volunteer fire departments did a tremendous job of clearing roads.”
There were some power disruptions reported, but they were not widespread.
“The teams at Clinton Utilities Board have done an excellent job and are continuing to work hard to restore any power outages,” Frank said. “I’m thankful for all of our public safety personnel and their care for our citizens.”
City Manager Roger Houck said Clinton was mostly spared, as well.
“It wasn’t too bad,” he said. “One tree was down in Lakefront Park, but other than that, no damage was found in any of our parks.”
There were, of course, tree limbs and, in some cases, entire trees brought down by the winds that seemed to hit their wildest peaks around 3:20 a.m., but no injuries were reported from any of the trees falling or other wind damage
“Our guys were out all hours getting trees out of the roads,” Norris City Manager Bailey Whited said. “It could have been much worse.”
Whited said that I-75 was “littered” with tree debris on his drive into Norris to work on Monday morning, but traffic flow was not impaired.
A major Norris thoroughfare, Dairy Pond Road, was closed part of the morning as a large tree that had fallen across the road had to be cut and removed.
Frank said the high winds did move a trampoline from her next-door neighbor’s yard into her back yard, blowing it into some trees.
“I doubt it’s repairable,” she said.
Snow was falling over much of the local area Monday afternoon, but no accumulation was recorded, except for a dusting on parked cars.
