DOUBLE SPRINGS, Tenn. — Jean Gregory had been fast asleep when her husband yanked her to the floor and flung himself on top of her for six, seven, maybe 10 minutes, as they waited for the tornado that had descended on their small community in Putnam County, Tenn., to finally pass.

“It just shook the house — they said it moved off the foundation,” said Mrs. Gregory, 73, as she surveyed the ruins of the house she had shared for decades with her husband.

Around them, it was much worse. At least 19 people died on Tuesday morning in Putnam County after a series of tornadoes cut a swath across the central part of Tennessee, killing at least 25 people in all. In Mrs. Gregory’s neighborhood, a mix of trailers, houses and modest apartments, the devastation was everywhere.