Wednesday, January 30 2013 10:02 AM EST2013-01-30 15:02:41 GMT
Several school systems will either be closed or delayed Wednesday due to the overnight storms.more>>
Several school systems will either be closed or delayed Wednesday due to the overnight storms.more>>
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A man died after a tree fell on the shed he was living in during the storms overnight.
Metro-Nashville Police have classified the death of 47-year-old Vernon E. Hartsell as accidental. Hartsell was living in a shed on family property on Abernathy Road when strong winds uprooted a tree that crashed into the building. Hartsell died on the scene.
Homeowner Darrell Lockridge told NewsChannel 5 that the man who was killed was his wife's uncle.
Lockridge said he woke up just before 3 a.m. when he heard a crash. He went outside and saw the tree on the shed, and found Hartsell deceased inside.
"It was a bad sight when I looked in. I come out and peeled some of the aluminum back and looked in, and I was looking right at it, I knew what it was, it was bad," said Lockridge.
His daughter
learned about her father's death after her aunt knocked on her door.
"I knew she was crying when
she sit down on my couch because I knew something was wrong and I knew she was
going to tell me something, about something. Then she told me and that's when I
was really upset about it," said Delores Hartsell.
A crane was required to lift the tree off of the body. Officials said the tree was uprooted and had a four foot diameter tree at the base. Some power lines were also tangled in the limbs, so Nashville Electric Service came out to assist.
