Two people were injured, hundreds of structures were affected in some way and about half of Pennyrile Electric’s members were put in the dark by an apparent tornado and historic gusty winds that lasted several hours Friday.
One man was taken to Tennova Health in Clarksville after a semi-overturned near the 89 mile-marker of I-24 near Oak Grove Friday afternoon and another person was injured in a fall near KFC on Fort Campbell Boulevard, according to Christian County Emergency Management Director Randy Graham. Governor Andy Beshear reported three weather-related deaths in Logan, Simpson and Edmonson County
Several tractor-trailers were blown onto their side in Christian County—most on I-24 and at least a couple in the Pennyrile Parkway and Fort Campbell Boulevard areas.
A photo of the apparent tornado was taken on Bell Chapel Road on the west end near Pembroke-Fairview Road, but everyone in western Kentucky and middle Tennessee felt and heard winds that gusted to near 70 mph at times.
A building was destroyed at West State Construction across from Novadell on Fort Campbell Boulevard, a tree was blown onto a home on Jan Drive in Hopkinsville and there were hundreds of homes with damage from trees or shingles blown off the roof across the area.
Hopkinsville Fire Department Lt. Payton Rogers says a gas meter caught fire after being damaged by a tree on Hillside Terrace, with power lines also downed in that area. The Hopkinsville-Christian County Airport sustained damage to the front doors and roof of the terminal building.
A portion of the roof was blown off the Copper Still on Dawson Springs Road and numerous barns were damaged or destroyed in the area, including on Johnson Mill Road.
There were similar reports in Todd County, including part of a tree falling onto a home on Guthrie Road near Penchem. US 41 had to be closed for much of the afternoon between Trenton and Guthrie due to power lines and trees down.
About 25,000 of Pennyrile Electric’s 49,000 members were without power at one time and that number remained at about 23,000 late Friday night. Brent Gilkey with the cooperative says early efforts to restore power were severely hampered by the high winds, but they were going to work through the night.
Major outages were caused when a TVA structure was damaged south of Casky during the tornado warning.
He says extended outages are expected over the next few days. Gilkey reminds folks to treat downed lines as if they are still hot and to report them promptly to Pennyrile Electric.
Hopkinsville Electric System General Manager Jeff Hurd reported about 3,000 customers without service late Friday night. He expects crews to work well into the weekend with several broken poles and trees on lines still.
Over 200,000 Kentucky Utilities customers had their power knocked out, including 900 in the Crofton area.
Photo provided by Randy Graham/CCEM
