State agencies offer aid after tornado damages Memphis homes

Phillip Jackson
Memphis Commercial Appeal

The Shelby County Emergency Management and Homeland Security office held a news conference Wednesday. 

In conjunction with the City of Memphis Office of Emergency Management and the American Red Cross Mid-South Chapter, a Multi-Agency Resource Center will open at Olivet Baptist Church, at 4450 Knight Arnold Road, according to a news release. 

The National Weather Service in Memphis' preliminary report confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Southeast Memphis on Monday. No injuries or fatalities have been reported. 

Brenda Jones, director of the Emergency Operations Center for the Shelby County Emergency Management and Homeland Security office, speaks Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, during a news conference at the office's Emergency Operations Center in Memphis.

Brenda Jones, director of Shelby County Emergency Management, said her office sounded the sirens to let people know that a storm was coming. Jones did not indicate how much information was disseminated through social media. 

Jones said the highest impact of the storm was seen in the Cottonwood Apartment complex, but there is no estimated figure for damage. 

Jones said they have been in West Tennessee Emergency Agency and the Tennessee Department of Human Services for more aid.

"They have been providing resources. They are providing resources as we speak," Jones said. 

John Brown, executive director for the Mid-South chapter of the Red Cross, speaks Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, during a news conference at the Emergency Operations Center for the Shelby County Emergency Management and Homeland Security office in Memphis.

The Multi-Agency Resource Center's hours of operation are:

  • 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24 
  • 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25
  • 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26

On Monday, the American Red Cross opened a lodging facility at the Marion Hale Community Center.

Property owners in neighborhoods and other areas that were damaged who are cutting and removing their own tree debris are required to cut less than 5 feet in length or less than 13 inches in diameter, according to a news release from the City of Memphis.