Mt. Juliet, TN, residents look for normalcy after Saturday’s tornado

By TOSIN FAKILE

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    MT. JULIET, Tennessee (WSMV) — Some people impacted by the tornado in Mt. Juliet are back in their homes, working to get their house back to normal.

An EF-1 tornado touched down in Mt. Juliet on Saturday. Those impacted are making progress in cleanup efforts and getting back to normalcy.

Eagle Trace, Patridge Drive, and Nighthawk Lane have several homes with tarped roofs, cut-up trees in yards, broken windows, and makeshift garage doors with tarps. Jim Jackson’s home had a tarp on the roof and sides.

“He got a call from me at 6:30 Saturday morning, and I said I need you to come to help me out and tarp the roof,” Jackson said.

Jackson was working on getting his home of 22 years looking like it used to after it took a hit when an EF1 tornado touched down in the city.

“I guess at about 3:10. Things looked imminent,” Jackson said. “They were talking about stuff headed towards mount Juliet. So, the wife and I went downstairs and got in our safe spot. Grabbed the cats and did what we were supposed to do.”

“It just became imminent that things were going to hit,” he added. “And then we kind of knelt over. Then we heard a bang. I didn’t hear the freight train as people say, I heard more of a bang and crackling, and we felt the house move.”

After the tornado passed, Jackson said he immediately noticed the damages to his home.

“I came upstairs, and at that point, we had water coming in our living room and hallway,” Jackson said. “So, we knew we’d been hit. So we went back down and waited a few more minutes to make sure things were safe. came back up and started grabbing towels and buckets and trying to catch water.”

Jackson has had several contractors come to his home to help with the restoration process.

“Service pro was here,” Jackson said. “They brought in some industrial water vacuums and got it out. And once they got the roof tarped. Service pro was here 6 or 7 hours on Sunday.”

The tornado also damaged Jackson’s garage. He had it removed and temporarily covered with a tarp with “blessed” written on it.

“Andrea and I feel blessed to be alive,” Jackson said. “It could have gotten so much worse. We feel blessed that it was some cosmetic damage and not any sort of permanent damage.”

While counting his blessing, Jackson has a newfound perspective on tornado warnings.

“The next time I see a tornado warning. I don’t know how I’m going to react,” Jackson said. “Obviously, I’m going to respect it. I’m hoping the fear I’ve had in the past is gone.”

Mt. Juliet PIO Justin Beasley said about seven homes in Mt. Juliet had significant structural damage from the tornado. He added that the storm impacted about 60-80 homes in some way.

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