A Florida mother, a 10-year-old boy and a brother visiting for the holidays: Here are Tennessee's tornado victims

A Florida woman visiting her grandchildren. A father who died protecting his young son. A 10-year-old boy in Mother Nature's direct path.

They are among the dead after the National Weather Service confirmed a string of tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee on Saturday, flattening homes and businesses, killing six people and injuring dozens over an eight-hour period.

Three people died in Nashville, and about 50 miles northwest, three others lost their lives in Clarksville, local officials said. More than 80 injured patients were also rushed to hospitals on Saturday after multiple tornadoes touched down in the Midstate. Many are in critical condition.

Here are who officials say died.

Nashville tornado victims

Joseph Dalton, 37

Joseph Dalton, 37, was inside his Madison mobile home when the storm rolled it on top of his neighbor's home, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department.

Dalton’s 10-year-old son was inside his home at the time and was transported to a local children's hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Dalton's partner and the mother of his child, Cassandra Diket, told the Tennessean that she was at work but rushed home when Dalton did not respond to her text warning him about the severe weather.

Their 10-year-old son, she said, "remembers his dad holding his hands and telling him it will be OK. Then he said he remembers everything spinning."

Dalton was lying on top of his son and his mother while they all huddled in the bathtub, the safest place inside the mobile home, Diket said. He was using his body to protect them.

Powerful winds swept the mobile home off its foundation and into the air. It landed on top of their neighbor's home.

"He's my hero," Diket's son told her.

"He was my best friend and the love of my life," Diket said. "I know he was being brave. I lost him, but I feel like my son wouldn't be alive without him."

How you can help too: Taylor Swift donates $1 million to Tennessee tornado relief fund

Floridema Gabriel Perez, 31 and Anthony Elmer Mendez, 2

Floridema Gabriel Perez, 31, and her children lived next door to Dalton, Nashville police said.

Her 2-year-old son, Anthony Elmer Mendez, was also in the home and died, the agency reported. Perez’s 7-year-old son, also home, was taken to a hospital after suffering injuries.

Perez's husband, Felipe Mendez, survived after the tornado blew through the family's home, according to an online fundraiser created by the Hispanic Family Foundation to help him.

Originally from Guatemala, Mendez "made the decision to leave everything he knew and loved behind to provide a better life for himself and his family," the fundraiser reads. "His family only arrived in the United States just five months ago."

As of Tuesday, the fundraiser had raised nearly $14,000 of a $50,000 goal to help Mendez with funeral expenses.

Tornado wind speeds peaked at 150 mph: The Tennessee tornadoes left 6 dead, dozens injured

Clarksville tornado victims

Stephen Kwaah Hayes, 34

Stephen Kwaah Hayes, 34, of Clarksville, lost his life, as well.

Clarksville police identified Hayes as one of the three victims who died when a tornado with peak winds of 150 mph blew through the city, razing homes and injuring more than 60 people.

His sister, Angela Hayes said her brother was originally from Silver Springs, Maryland, graduated from Montgomery Blair High School and studied at Hofstra University and Salisbury University.

"I called him my gentle giant little brother," she told USA TODAY on Tuesday. "He was staying with us for a bit for the holidays."

Not only did she lose her brother, she said her entire family, who live in Clarksville, lost their home in the tornado. "But we are grateful to God that he spared us," she said.

Hayes' sister commended the Clarksville community for their support.

"You all have been so good to us. Words can't describe. I'm still in tears," she posted on Facebook. "Even in the freezing cold you all came out the following day to help us sift through the rubble to salvage what was left ... We may have lost our home, my brother and personal things but we are blessed to have our lives and each other."

An online fundraiser was also set up to help family rebuild and pay for Hayes' funeral expenses. As of Tuesday night it had raised just over $2,000 of a $5,000 goal.

Donna Allen, 59

Donna Allen, 59, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was visiting Tennessee to see her son and her grandchildren when the tornado tore through Clarksville, the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

In addition to her death, her son's family lost their home.

According to her son, Eric Davis Allen, both he and his mother were in the house when the storm came through. His four children were not.

"Life is so valuable, and it can be gone in a blink of an eye," Allen's son told the outlet. "Obviously, I know there are so many families that were devastated by this catastrophe, but losing my mom and everything with four kids, you have to rebuild.”

“She was my world,” Davis told Clarksville Now. “She was a woman that was so resilient, a great mother to her kids, someone who went through so much in life. She was a joy … She was the life of the party and one of the things I appreciated the most about her was her innate spirit.”

Arlan Coty, 10

Arlan Coty, 10, died in the tornado that tore through Clarksville.

The boy, a fourth-grade student at West Creek Elementary School in his hometown, was passionate about basketball and the Los Angeles Lakers, his favorite professional team, according to The Tennessean.

"Arlan had the most infectious and special energy about him," his family said in a statement, released Monday. "There is not one person who has met Arlan that has not been brought to tears from his passing."

Arlan loved talking about history, music and sports, and was "intelligent beyond his years," the statement from Katherine and Kyle Burnham said.

The boy's mother said in a Facebook post that the family's home was in the direct path of the tornado, and Arlan did not make it out. Her daughter, Ella, was taken to a local hospital, treated and released with minor injuries, the post said.

Contributing: The Tennessean and The Palm Beach Post.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tornado victims in Tennessee include 2 children: Here's who died