Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear was in Hopkinsville Friday to speak with local leaders about possible assistance and survey storm damage from March 31.
The storm from March 31 caused widespread damage across Hopkinsville, including damages to the Mixer on Sixth Street, the clock tower building and Big Fellaz on East Ninth Street, and the governor took the time to look over those damages. He says Christian County has had a rough time of it lately—including a historic wind storm on March 3 that caused damages and put the bulk of the county without power for a time—but he’s grateful no one was badly hurt or worse, and rebuilding will take place.
Governor Beshear is hopeful that paired with March 3, these weather events will combine with a federal disaster declaration to generate public assistance.
As for a timeline on when that could happen, the governor says these things take time, but he thinks they’re close to getting some assistance rolling soon.
Christian County Emergency Management Director Randy Graham says efforts to clean-up fallen trees and debris continue city-wide, with approximately 60 homes impacted by the storm and roughly 20 of those homes had major damage. He told the governor that they were still working on recovery from the March 3 storm, so this has delayed efforts.
Governor Beshear spoke with Hopkinsville Mayor J.R. Knight and Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam about what steps they can take to help gets the wheels move on assistance, along with celebrating the recent economic announcements in the county and region as a whole.