Natural Gas Pumping station explosion in Tennessee caused by Memphis Tornado

A pumping station explosion in Tennessee that killed at least one person Tuesday could be connected to severe weather that has claimed at least 22 other lives throughout the south.

The storms killed at least 11 people in Arkansas, eight in Tennessee and three in Kentucky, authorities said.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency confirmed late Tuesday night that a fire was reported at a natural gas pumping station in Hartsville, Tenn., after a massive explosion, reported WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tenn. The station is about 40 miles northeast Nashville.

The nearby Castalian Springs, Tenn., Post Office was destroyed and there was one confirmed death, WSMV said.

Witnesses called WSMV and said they could see the glow of the flames 60 miles away from the fire.

A Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman said the station could have been damaged by a line of severe storms that moved through Tennessee. The weather system also spawned tornadoes that killed at least eight other people in Tennessee on Tuesday.

Tennessee, Mississippi Hit Hard

At least six tornadoes touched down between Oxford, Miss., and Jackson, Tenn., said a National Weather Service spokesman.

Besides the confirmed death in the gas pumping station explosion, eight others were confirmed dead in Tennessee and more than 60 people were injured in Tennessee and Mississippi, officials said.

Two died in a home near Jackson, three people were killed when a roof collapsed at the DSC Logistics warehouse in Memphis, Tenn., a man was killed when his vehicle flipped in Fayette County and two others died in Hardin County east of Memphis.

Severe storms damaged buildings at Union University in Jackson on Tuesday night, injuring 16 people, reported WSMV.

A school spokesman said 12 students were trapped in a damaged dormitory but weren't seriously injured. Union University president David Dockery told WSMV that four students had already been rescued from the debris. Dockery said the school would be closed until Feb. 13.

The school was busy bussing the students to a safe area.

Dockery said a woman's dorm was completely destroyed, and a men's dorm was partially destroyed. One-third of the campus was either damaged or destroyed.

An amount of anhydrous ammonia was released into the atmosphere at a bottling company due to high winds, but officials said that there was not a high risk of danger.

Officials in Hopkinsville, Tenn., have reported that several homes have been damaged or destroyed from strong storms pushing into the area. Power lines and trees were down across the area.

Hospital Treats Victims

An official at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson said at least 20 people have been injured in a wave of tornadoes that hit Tennessee and northern Mississippi Tuesday night.

Hospital spokeswoman Jan Boud said the emergency room has treated the injured people. Five of them are serious and the rest are minor.

She said a lot of those treated, who were mainly from the Jackson area, located about 75 miles northeast of Memphis, have come on their own accord. But hospital officials were expecting several more especially from the Union University campus area.

A school spokesman said eight students were trapped in a damaged dormitory at the university, but weren't seriously injured.

The Jackson Sun newspaper reported on its Web site Tuesday night that a Jackson nursing home was seriously damaged, but the 114 residents were evacuated with no injuries reported.

Boud said the serious injuries include lacerations and broken bones. None are life-threatening. The minor injuries are minor cuts and bruises.

Governor Says 11 Dead In Arkansas

A couple and a child were killed after a tornado touched down near the center of Atkins, a community of 3,000 along the Arkansas River in the central part of the state, the Pope County Sheriff's Office said.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's office later said at least 11 people were killed across the state, including in the communities of Clinton and Gassville.

Emergency crews went door-to-door in Atkins seeking other possible victims, the Pope County Sheriff's Office said. Power lines blocked traffic to the community along the Arkansas River in central Arkansas.

3 Die In Kentucky

An additional three people were reported dead in a storm outside Greenville in western Kentucky, the Kentucky State Police said.

Trooper Stuart Recke said the three were all adults and were killed Tuesday night at a mobile home park. Recke said he's not sure the circumstances surrounding the deaths or whether the three were together or in different areas of the park.

Recke said the storm also caused moderate to severe damage at another area mobile home park.