Gov. Lee Tour

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee toured tornado damage in Hamilton County on Tuesday.

Many residents in the hamilton county area are working countless hours to clean up their homes after a tornado ripped through on easter sunday.

Today, governor bill lee stopped by to check out the damage in our area.

News 12's joeli poole joins us live in the studio with the details.

Hamilton, bradley, and marion county were devasted from tornadoes sunday evening.

This weather damaged over 100 structures in our area.

This morning governor bill lee along with our two local mayors walked through some of the most damaged spots in hamilton county.

Sunday night an ef-3 tornado roared through hamilton county.

Since the severe weather 2 people have lost their lives,17 people were hospitalized, and over 100 homes building damaged.

For those effected clean up started bright and early tuesday morning.

Today fema, tema, our local mayors, and governor bill lee walked through some of hamilton county's most devasted areas.

Joeli poole "after governor bill lee toured hamilton county's most damaged areas, he stopped by wilson air center to talk about how he assessed the damage and what our next steps were."

Governor bill lee "we believe by tomorrow afternoon the damage assessments will be done.

Then, i will be able to declare a major disaster declaration from the president.

Upon that declaration announcment, then the process of providing assistance will begin."

Governor lee says we have been through a lot of devastion in the past few years but this one is being handled differently due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Governor bill lee "the traditional american red cross shelters are in a gymnasium or church.

We are utilizing hotels so that people can indiviually stay in rooms and be socially distant and protected from other victims."

He also ask that everyone continues to wear the proper personal protective equipment throughout the clean up process.

Mayor jim coppinger says the recovery process will take a while but he's proud of how supportive the community has been.

Mayor jim coppinger "we are very resilient here in hamilton county.

We have endured these types of events and ther tragedies in the past.

We will bounce back and we will overcome this."

Officals ask everyone to avoid the effected areas to allow for first responders to continue to work through the destruction.

Live in the studio joeli poole, news 12