MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — Dozens of homes in the Willoughby Station area sustained storm damage in Mt. Juliet.
It shattered windows, left trees on homes, and one person was injured. Conrad Szumski said, "These poor people across the road here with that big shagbark hickory down on that house ooo God, God bless them.”
Roughly 60-80 homes have damage, a dozen of which have structural concerns. "Of course you saw all the damage up the street, the brick walls and everything came down on those houses, thank God this is all that’s happened to me," Szumski said, "We’re all safe, that can be repaired, human life no.”
Residents like Wesley Jarman were out in full force cleaning up. He found his cat in a storm drain when it ran outside during the chaos. Jarman said, "He was very frightened, wrapped him up in a towel."
The 19-year-old said it was a frightening experience. Jarman said, "I guess you could say we kind of had the training for it from the 2020 tornado."
Mt. Juliet's Public Information Officer Justin Beasley said, "We’re resilient, we showed that in 2020, we’re going to do that again here."
Crews worked all day to restore power. "There’s structures right now that we have to examine to make sure before we just turn the power back on," Beasley said.
City officials are asking residents to separate their metals and plastics that they leave on the side of the road for pick up.
As for Conrad, he's been through three tornadoes, so he's moving. Szumski said, "Out east of Lebanon we’re going to build a safe room, maybe even an underground shelter there."
Mt. Juliet Elementary and a fire station also sustained some roof damage. The Christmas parade was canceled due to the aftermath.
