VIDEO: Tornado Damage In the Smoky Mountains. “On a clear day from the Look Rock tower on the Foothills Parkway, the tornado damage looks like a power line cut through the mountains. Up close, the impacts are mind-boggling. . . . While the park periodically suffers wind damage from events such as straight-line winds and mountain waves, this was the first time that a full-fledged tornado has been known to hit the Smokies. The tornado’s footprint materializes in the backcountry without warning. One minute, you’re hiking in a mature second-growth forest; the next, you’re standing in a clearing where the trees have been toppled in the same direction.”