The second shift at General Motors Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky ended late Friday, and some 400 workers filed out into the night.
But 20 or 30 remained inside the plant when, in the early morning hours Saturday, alarms inside the factory sounded.

The workers knew what it meant: Head to a designated shelter in the basement, said Jason Watson, shop chairman for UAW Local 2164, which represents the hourly workers at Bowling Green Assembly, located about an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee.

Within minutes a tornado touched down, tearing through the community with Bowling Green Assembly right in its path. The National Weather Service in Louisville estimated the tornado's wind speed in Bowling Green at 150 mph.

"Thankfully, all the systems in the plant worked," Watson told the Free Press. "The take-shelter alerts that are broadcast people took cover and once the all-clear sounded they were permitted to go home. None of them said they were scared, because they couldn't tell what was going on. When you're in the basement, a bomb could go off, and you wouldn't hear it."

But above ground, the plant's roof was on fire. There was sustainable damage to the building's shell, said Watson.
GM builds the popular Corvette sports car at Bowling Green, but this week production is idled and all 1,200 of those on the assembly line are laid off. About 90 skilled trades workers remain on the job, Watson said.

GM calls on Factory ZERO

GM confirmed the fire was a result of the tornado.
The fire damaged the facility, including the roof and an employee entrance.
"The small number of employees that were onsite are all safe," said GM spokesman David Barnas.
He said the plant shutdown is "only announced as down for this week at this point."

Barnas said GM was assessing and repairing damage. In the past 48 hours, GM has moved materials and resources from other GM locations to Bowling Green.
That includes construction cranes from Spring Hill Assembly in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and materials from Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck, where GM just finished retooling to make all-electric vehicles starting with the 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup that is in production now.

On Monday UAW Local 22 President Wiley Turnage, who leads the local that represents union workers at Factory ZERO, declined to comment about Factory ZERO's efforts to help Bowling Green saying, "it's all still coming together."
Watson said whatever supplies Bowling Green gets from other facilities will help.

"GM is doing construction at Factory ZERO and Spring Hill, (and) we're obviously in need of building materials here," Watson said. "Trying to find building supplies, especially now in this area, will not be very fruitful."

Also, GM can't assess any interior plant damage until it fixes the exterior damage, Watson said.

"There are all kinds of visible damage throughout the building and structural things," Watson said.
"The building itself is what they're trying to concentrate on because there are multiple areas of the roof that were compromised and various siding surrounding the plant. They can't determine yet if there's damage to equipment or line, they're not turning it on yet."

New rumor is plant maybe down for 1 month