Struthers trucker shocked by tornado damage in Tennessee

A driver hit heavy rain but avoided the path of
tornadoes.

A Struthers truck driver was shocked when he saw the devastation caused by a tornado in Tennessee.

Kevin Flesher, 25, said he saw about a half-dozen tractor-trailer rigs lying mangled on the side of Interstate 40.

“Trees were down. Signs were folded over,” he said.

Flesher was driving near Jackson, Tenn., on Wednesday morning when he saw the damage. A tornado had hit the area about 12 hours earlier.

After the twister hit the road, it uprooted a 50-foot pine tree at a rest stop. The path of destruction then continued, running away from the highway.

Flesher said I-40 had been closed overnight and he ran into an hour delay Wednesday morning as road crews finished clearing up debris.

Tornadoes in Tennessee killed 24 people, while storms in other Southern states killed at least 24 others.

When the storms were hitting Tuesday night, Flesher was just crossing into Kentucky from Ohio on Interstate 71.

“The rain was coming down so hard that I couldn’t see the end of the hood,” he said.

He continued on at 5 mph because he had heard the storms were coming from the southwest, so he figured he was headed to calmer weather.

Flesher, who owns K&A Trucking, was on his way to Texas with a load of pipe.

He said he keeps track of the weather and tries to avoid severe conditions when he can, but this storm caught him by surprise.