Shortly before noon on Monday, August 7th, intense storms ravaged the Coffee County area. Storm damage took out power, traffic lights and cable services. Multiple downed trees made some roads impassible.
At one point Duck River Electric Membership’s Outage Map showed nearly 30% of Coffee County customers without power. The Coffee County School bus garage posted on their Facebook page that a number of roads were inaccessible due to storm damage (Jernigan’s Branch Road, Norton’s Branch Road, Lawrence Branch Road) and would not be accessible by buses. Parents with addresses on those roads were encouraged to pick up their children from school.
Meanwhile, Manchester Director of Schools Dr. Joey Vaughn told Thunder Radio news that his schools were not closing on Monday, but parents of students at Westwood Elementary and Westwood Middle were welcome to pick up their students if they wanted. Those schools were without power from about noon through the rest of the afternoon.
The US National Weather service had issued a tornado watch at 11 AM for parts of Tennessee and North Carolina until 6 PM CDT. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for Coffee County at approximately 11:45 a.m. Monday.
Emergency crews were active and visible in many areas. Neighbors helping neighbors remove debris and right toppled yard items were seen as well.
THE COFFEE COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT HAS ISSUED A LATE BREAKING UPDATE: Garner Rd/Fountain grove Rd and Power’s Bridge Rd/ Beechwood Dr will both remain closed tonight. Please do not try to cut on these trees, The Coffee County Highway Department will get to them in the morning.
