Union University in Jackson, Tennessee suffered the majority of the damage from last night’s tornadoes that ripped through the mid-south. I made it on campus this morning to take photos of the intense damage (see below). Union president David Dockery estimates the damage at $40-50 million dollars.

Classes have been canceled at least until February 18th. Nearly 1,000 cars on campus were destroyed and flipped throughout the grounds. Every building but one suffered damage. No deaths were reported in Jackson or at UU.

The two newest and biggest building on campus, White and Jennings Hall, suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

All of the dorms appeared to be totally destroyed from the twister. Nearly 90% of Union students live on campus. Several students were trapped under one of the collapsed dorms for several hours last night. They all survived with minor injuries.

The twister touched down right after 7:00 pm local time. Baseball sized hail (click to view) pounded down as the tornado made a straight line through the north part of the city.

More Tornado Photos

photos: Joshua Holmes