NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee early Tuesday, shredding at least 40 buildings and killing at least 21 people. One of the twisters caused severe damage across downtown Nashville, destroying the stained glass in a historic church and leaving hundreds of people homeless. Daybreak revealed a landscape littered with blown-down walls and roofs, snapped power lines and huge broken trees, leaving city streets in gridlock. Schools, courts, transit lines, an airport and the state Capitol were closed, and some damaged polling stations had to be moved only hours before Super Tuesday voting began. The death toll jumped to 21 Tuesday, Tennessee Emergency Management Spokeswoman Maggie Hannan said, after police and fire crews spent hours pulling survivors and bodies from wrecked buildings. "Last night was a reminder about how fragile life is," Nashville Mayor John Cooper said at a Tuesday morning news conference. To see an interactive map of where the fatalities occurred, visit https://interactives.ap.org/tornado-tracker Nashville residents walked around in dismay as emergency crews closed off roads. Roofs had been torn off apartment buildings, large trees uprooted and debris littered many sidewalks. Walls were peeled away, exposing living rooms and kitchens in damaged homes. Mangled power lines and broken trees came to rest on cars, streets and piles of rubble. “It is heartbreaking. We have had loss of life all across the state,” said Gov. Bill Lee. He ordered nonessential state workers to stay home just before he was set to fly in a helicopter to survey damage. President Donald Trump said he'd visited the area Friday. "We send our love and our prayers of the nation to every family that was affected," he said. “We will get there, and we will recover, and we will rebuild, and we will help them.” The tornadoes were spawned by a line of severe storms that stretched from Alabama into western Pennsylvania. In Nashville, the twister's path was mostly north and east of the heart of downtown, leaving many of its biggest tourism draws — the honky tonks of Broadway, the Grand Ole Opry House, the storied Ryman Auditorium, and the convention center— unharmed. Instead the storm tore through areas transformed by a recent building boom. Germantown and East Nashville are two of the city's trendiest neighborhoods, with restaurants, music venues, high-end apartment complexes and rising home prices threatening to drive out longtime residents.