Knox County, TN F2 Tornado – April 4, 1974

This particular QLCS featured severe winds and was accompanied by at least one twister as it moved through the Knoxville area. The following will discuss known impacts presented in The Knoxville News-Sentinel at the time. We gathered information from 1974 editions on April 4-6.

Widespread damage occurred across portions of the Knoxville metro. Trees and power lines were reported down from the Norwood area in northwest Knoxville to just north of downtown and then out to Mascot, east of the city. Power outages knocked radio stations WETE and WNOX off the air. A varying amount of structural damage occurred, with some of the worst happening in a small mobile home park off Rutledge Pike.

Chris Hale, manager of the Brannon Estates apartment complex off Wilson Road, told the Knoxville Sentinel on April 4 that he thought a tornado hit his area. “I saw a big black cloud coming, and I grabbed my two kids and threw them into the bathroom.” The roofs were torn away from seven apartment buildings, and the interiors were water-logged.

Approximately 2.5 miles east-northeast of Brannon Estates, part of the roof at Christenberry Junior High School (now an elementary school) was snatched, and classes were canceled on April 4.

In our research, we did not find damage reports from downtown and points south. However, a 55-mph wind gust was observed in nearby Alcoa at McGhee Tyson Airport. Along North Broadway in Knoxville, Dixie Kitchen Distributors, about 0.75 north of “The Marble City,” had their roof swept onto the street below, snarling traffic until it was cleared.

Further east, the Knoxville Municipal Zoo was hit. Guy L. Smith III, the director at the time, told the paper that several chickens were killed, and trees and power lines were blown over. The Zoo was closed temporarily for cleanup. Power was lost at the Jacob Building in nearby Chilhowee Park. This structure became an emergency shelter and was among the first to have power restored.

It is difficult to distinguish much of the upheaval from Brannon Estates to the Zoo between a possible tornado and straight-line winds. As the storm pushed further east-northeast, there seemed to be a higher concentration of more intense damage along Rutledge Pike. We are making an educated guess that a QLCS tornado formed somewhere beyond the Zoo and tracked northeast for at least four miles. Widespread wind damage was still occurring within the immediate surroundings of the twister at this point as well. At the residence of Lynn Burnett at 5512 East Sunset Road, there was a report of a tree on the home. This is approximately two miles east-southeast of Rutledge Pike, and we don’t include this in the tornado’s damage path.

Just northeast of our starting point, The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported, “It is easy to track the path of the tornado along Rutledge Pike. Trees are uprooted, signs blown down or damaged, and other trees have jagged scars from limbs torn away from the trunk.” Mrs. Jerry Hillard, who lived on Roosevelt Road off Rutledge Pike, told the paper about the damage to her property. “The wind lifted a utility shed over the Volkswagen parked next to it, demolishing the shed and not touching the car. The wind also ripped out a bolted-in air conditioner at the Hillard home.” Neil Hargis resided nearby, off Lincoln Drive. Three trees were uprooted and the back bedroom of the home was wrecked.

Approximately four miles northeast of the Hillard and Hargis homes was the Rutledge Pike Mobile Home Park along McMillan Station Road. The property owners were William and Anna Kate Coram. The worst damage from the twister occurred at the trailer court, which sat on a small hill.

At least 25 homes sustained damage. Several were obliterated while others rolled downhill and came to rest along other units. A few others were shifted from their foundation.

Edwin Morris, his wife Brenda, and their 4-week-old twins, Tabetha and Edwin Jr, lived in one of the mobile homes. The latter pair’s stepsiblings, James, Elizabeth, and Shirley Dense, were also there. The tornado devastated the Morris’ trailer and tragically, the twin infants were killed. The other three children sustained injuries and were hospitalized. James was still in serious condition a few days after the disaster. Tabetha and Edwin Jr. were buried together on the afternoon of April 5 in Holly Hills Memorial Gardens.