MADISON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Dramatic new video from Nashville Electric Service shows the tornado take out a substation in Madison.
It shows the tornado whip through the North Substation on East Campbell Road and electrical equipment go up in flames.
Heavy-duty equipment was even knocked to the ground at the facility. Its a transmission substation, so it takes in large amounts of power at a high voltage level and then distributes it to other substations at a lower voltage. The transmission substation is a critical part of the electrical grid. As it happens, several NES facilities were in the tornado's path.
"If we had had a 0.25 mile deviation either way, we would not have had any of the substation damages," said Jack Baxter, vice president of Power System Operations for NES.
Before Saturday's storm, East Campbell Road had minimal traffic. Morgan Kinch, who helps run Speed Warehouse Trailer, said it's become a bit of a destination after the tornado.
"For a while, we had a bunch of cones set up to stop 'the tourists'," said Kinch. "There were people at each side and asking people if they actually lived here, but now they kind of have to keep it open."
Around the clock, NES has been trying to repair the major damage to the North Substation and the substation in Hendersonville.
Significant damage to substations hasn't happened since the 70s.
Across the network, NES reports at least 150 poles were broken in the storm.
"Really, the focus Saturday night and through yesterday was to get the transmission lines back intact that fed the Hendersonville station and make repairs within that substation," Baxter said.
NES thanked Middle Tennessee Electric for sharing material so they could make repairs to the substation in Hendersonville. However, parts of Davidson and Sumner Counties could remain in the dark until the end of the week.
At the trailer dealership on East Campbell Road, 60 high-value, heavy trailers were damaged, showing just how powerful the winds in the area were. The Kinch family moved and then opened the dealership just before the pandemic.
"Actually, about six months before COVID hit, and started the dealership two months before COVID hit, so we actually struggled through all of that, and now we got hit by all of this," Kinch said.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
