Tornado hits STRI

[Craig L Barry]

Got an email from Jim Lewis, Park Ranger at Stones River National Battlefield Park. On Friday, April 10, 2009 at about 12:30 pm a series of tornadoes touched down in Murfreesboro, Tennessee killing two, injuring over fifty and causing a fair amount of damage to the Stones River National Battlefield Park. Debris from the storm will close the facility for several days. Over two thousand trees were damaged or down, and virtually every trail and road in the park blocked with debris.

The winds toppled wooden fencing and trees at the battlefield. Power lines were down with power finally returning to most of the area by tonight. The stretch of Old Nashville Hwy in the immediate vicinity of the battlefield was closed for some time because of downed trees in the road. Debris from nearby buildings were littered across “The Cotton Field” and “****’s Half Acre” fields and also the trails, but the Visitors Center was not damaged, and neither were any of the cannon or the monuments according to Lewis.

[tompritchett]

I am curious, given the budget straits that many state governments are facing, is this going to negatively impact getting the debros cleared up?

[Craig L Barry]

No, they have a dedicated and hardworking staff of volunteers out there (ahem) and the only programs lost will be this coming weekend, due to the amount of clean-up still to be done. It is putting a strain on the maintenance folks, but no impact is expected for any of their historic weapons demos or living histories, etc.

[GaWildcat]

Craig,

Glad to hear that the monuments and guns were undamaged, but sad to hear of so much damage. We saw it on the news after we had our own spat of twister warnings and touchdowns here in North Georgia; First thing I thought of was "is the battlefield ok". Glad to hear that for the most part, ya'll made it.

Prayers for those families of the dead and injured, and for all those that lost homes.