BURNS, Tenn. (WTVF) — Strong thunderstorms that swept through Middle Tennessee on Friday evening left Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns with extensive damage, forcing staff into a race against time to clear trails before a major December fundraising event.
Straight-line winds turned the nearly 4,000-acre state park's majestic woods into a mangled mess. "I came in Saturday morning, and that's when we could really see all the damage," said Destiny Adcox, Montgomery Bell State Park's Manager.
Adcox estimates at least 500 trees were lost in the storm. Hiking trails are now blocked in 180 different locations, with many spots having multiple fallen trees. "Each of these trees is a datapoint where there are trees down," Adcox said, showing us a mapping technology they use. "A lot of them are multiples in one spot."
The storm caused only one structural damage incident – to a historic 1930s cabin – and no injuries were reported. However, the extensive trail damage threatens the park's Bell Ringer Trail Run, a trail running event scheduled for mid-December. "That event alone brings in around $20,000 for the [Friends of Montgomery Bell State Park nonprofit]," Adcox said.
The trail run represents one of the park's biggest fundraisers of the year, making the cleanup efforts even more critical. Park staff are still working to reopen roads and clear trails using outside contractors, but the task could take a while. "I'm immediately thinking too, how long and how hard it's going to be to clean up from this and recover from this because these are old big trees," Adcox said. "It moved me to tears because you know how it looked the day before and it no longer looks that way."
Currently, it's too dangerous for volunteers to assist with cleanup efforts, but Adcox said community support will be needed eventually. They will post on the Montgomery Bell State Park Facebook page when they need volunteers to step up.
In the meantime, the park is accepting donations through Friends of Montgomery Bell State Park, their nonprofit organization, to help fund recovery efforts. The park is open while recovery efforts are underway, but be advised, all hiking trails until further notice.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
This is a story I immediately went home and showed my boys - young athletes with big dreams. The Vanderbilt football team's success has stolen the spotlight - what I love about Steve Layman's story is he reveals the individual hardships it took to get there. As Clark Lea says, "we all have scuff marks." This team proves perseverance pays off!
- Carrie Sharp
