FOG BLOG U.S. NEWS LOG: 3 DEAD, THOUSANDS DISPLACED/ WITHOUT POWER IN DEADLY TENNESSEE TORNADOES!

Deadly tornadoes leave thousands displaced or without power in Tennessee Thousands of Tennesseans are displaced or facing prolonged power outages after a series of powerful tornadoes and storms tore through the state over the weekend, shredding hundreds of homes and killing at least six people, including a mother and her toddler.

The destruction caused by storms in Tennessee, where at least two tornadoes touched down Saturday, has prompted officials in some of the hardest-hit areas to declare local states of emergency, open shelters for displaced families and announce the closure of schools on Monday.

More than 17,000 homes and businesses were without power Monday morning in the state, where early temperatures were below freezing and are expected to remain below 50 degrees through the day. In Nashville, a local utility estimates it may take days to restore power to some, while residents of Clarksville have been told it could take weeks.

Parts of Hendersonville and the Nashville-suburb Madison were slammed by a tornado with peak winds of 125 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

A single tornado traveled nearly 43 miles from the Clarksville area in Montgomery County to Logan County, cutting a path of destruction across both counties, according to the National Weather Service.

Schools are closed on Monday in Sumner County and in Montgomery County through Tuesday, the local districts announced.

Crews began clearing neighborhoods Monday morning and officials have shelters, food trucks and mobile shower units prepped for residents who need them, Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts told CNN. Pitts said he surveyed the damage Sunday.

“There are no words,” he said. “There’s not an adjective in the dictionary that would describe what we saw yesterday morning.”

“There will never be another boy like him”

Three people died in Madison when strong winds caused a man’s mobile home to roll on top of another home, killing the man, 37-year-old Joseph Dalton, his neighbor Floridema Gabriel Perez, 31, and her son, Anthony Elmer Mendez, 2.

Wanda McClemor, who lives next door to the mobile homes, told CNN affiliate WTVF that neighbors emerged from their homes after the storm and began frantically searching for the mother and child. When their bodies were finally found, Perez still had her son wrapped in her arms.