Disaster: Tornadoes shred 40 buildings around Nashville

At least two tornadoes touched down early Tuesday in central Tennessee, including one that ripped across downtown Nashville and caused about 40 buildings to collapse around the city, police said as they searched for injured people.

Authorities pleaded with people to stay indoors, at least until daybreak could reveal the dangers of a landscape littered with blown-down walls and roofs, snapped power lines and huge broken trees.

Some schools already closed for Super Tuesday voting will be kept closed for another week or more to handle repairs.

The tornado near downtown reportedly stayed on the ground into Hermitage, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of the city.

Our community has been impacted significantly," the Mt. Juliet Police Department tweeted early Tuesday. Multiple homes were damaged and multiple injuries were reported, the department said.

We continue to search for injured. Stay home if you can."