CAMPBELL COUNTY, TN (WLAF)- One account from Monday afternoon’s severe storm came from a Campbell County school bus driver. “I literally was driving the school bus on Loop Road, Caryville, as the trees were snapping. The winds came down off the mountain from Little Egypt and just started twisting trees all around,” said James Gross, who drives a Campbell County School Bus.

A severe thunderstorm packing damaging wind and heavy rainfall rolled through Campbell County late Monday afternoon. The storm knocked down trees and left more than a thousand LUB customers without power.

Power outages were of the scattered variety. Crews with LUB worked through the night to restore power with only a handful of outages remaining by 5am Tuesday.

TOP PHOTO: Trees took out power lines on this Caryille Road.

WLAF’s Charlie Hutson shares his photo gallery of post storm damage at Caryville HERE.

WLAF’s Charlie Hutson via Eagle I show where Caryville Firefighters cleared trees off this road as LUB crews arrive to repair power lines.
LUB makes downed power line repairs at Caryville as shown in this photo from WLAF’s Charlie Hutson and Eagle I
Loop Road under trees at Caryville.

Severe thunderstorm watches and warnings were issued by the National Weather Service at Morristown along with a flood advisory and flash flood warning, all for Campbell County during the event.

A power pole at Caryville taken out.

A tree fell onto a home on Tanglewood Lane at Caryville while trees fell over Loop Road at Caryville. There were no injuries.

Several big trees fell at Caryville on Monday afternoon.
Another look at the big tree from WLAF’s Charlie Hutson and Eagle I

Rain and storm chances move out after sundown as skies clear. Tuesday brings a rain-free, a tad cooler day.

Downed trees covered all of a portion of Shelton Hollow Lane.

Shelton Hollow Road, near Loop Road, at Caryville was also hard hit.

WLAF’s Charlie Hutson and Eagle I shows a huge tree losing a huge portion of it.

(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-08/17/2026-6PM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF CARYVILLE FIRE CHIEF EDDIE HATMAKER & CAMPBELL ROAD SUPERINTENDENT RON DILBECK-UPDATED 08/18/2026-6AM))

One Reply to “‘Trees were snapping as I drove’- school bus driver James Gross”

  1. I literally was driving the school bus on loop road as the trees were snapping. The winds came down off the mountain from little Egypt and just started twisting trees all around.

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