A woman named Caylee tells a local news station that her boyfriend woke her up just in time to take cover.

I was dead asleep, so he woke me up and, um, we turn on the news and just I saw that there was a tornado, wasn't really sure how serious it was.

And then they're saying It's like coming towards these Nashville The city of Nashville is trying to pick up the pieces.

After tornadoes ripped through its communities in the middle of the night, more than 20 people were killed, but many were able to escape with their lives.

The governor of Tennessee declared a state of emergency, dozens of buildings were destroyed and many people were also unaccounted for.

Caylee says she was thankful to have been spared.

My boyfriend is a true hero, honestly, because I would have slept through the whole thing.

It's my mommy says, Sleep through anything, um and yeah, I've almost slept through the tornado.

Celebrities with ties to the area offer their sympathies.

Dolly Parton was one of them.

We are all with you and hope that your family's okay and the property's gonna be ableto get mended pretty soon.

Get your lives back on.

We just wanted you to know you're being thought of.

Shelters have been set up for people displaced by the disaster.

Meanwhile, rescue teams are searching for the missing as the people of Nashville hold out hope for their neighbors.

For inside edition dot com I'm Montalbano.