A severe thunderstorm roared and poured its way through Grayson County Wednesday night leaving behind downed trees and power lines along with widespread damage to structures of all varieties.
Not only did the thunderstorm produce high, damaging winds, at one point during the storm, rain was falling at a rate of between two and three inches per hour. As the squall arrived, hail fell as the storm introduced itself to the county with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour (based on local meteorologist’s coverage of the storm).
The first report of damage was reported to Grayson County Central Dispatch at 6:54 Wednesday night in the form of a large tree down across Walnut Grove Avenue, just north of Caneyville off Hwy 79. Two minutes later, a report of a tree down in the 5300 block of Brandenburg Road arrived at dispatch.
The Caneyville and Leitchfield Fire Departments responded to the scenes, beginning a busy night for those departments along with the Anneta Fire Department, as the Caneyville and Anneta areas appear to have endured the brunt of the storm.
In Caneyville, the Caneyville FD made incredibly quick work of multiple trees down on North Main Street, as well as across Hwy 79 between Caneyville and Short Creek. A live power line fell across railroad tracks at Watershed Road, sparking a brief fire, as well. Firefighters stayed at that scene for an extended period awaiting power company workers, who were bouncing from one outage to another for hours.
Caneyville firefighters, along with the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office, blocked the 13000 block of Beaver Dam Road (Hwy 62) for about 90 minutes after a live power line fell across the road.
Also in Caneyville, a tree fell and blocked Campbell Street, off Hwy 79 between the city limits and Walnut Grove Avenue.
Other damage in the area (which will become more apparent in the light of day), included a large tree falling and becoming entangled in a power line on Lake Shore Drive in Anneta. That incident knocked out power to hundreds of customers in the area. The Anneta FD stayed on and preserved the dangerous scene for several hours as firefighters awaited a power company crew.
A shed was heavily damaged by strong winds on Lakeview Drive in Anneta.
Also damaged in Anneta was a home on the property of Grayson County Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson, as a large tree fell on the residence. According to Henderson, family members had left the residence only minutes before the tree came crashing down.
In addition to Leitchfield fire personnel responding to Brandenburg Road on the report of a downed tree, a tree fell across and completely blocked White Street at approximately 7:43. Additionally, small trees and branches littered Duff Road, with LFD also responding.
The Wax Fire Department responded to a report of trees and power lines down on Wax Road, but a check of the area produced no visual damage along that thoroughfare.
In the Sadler Road area, winds took the roof off a barn and tossed it in the property owner’s front yard.
Damage was also reportedly inflicted on a residence on Hwy 185, south of Caneyville.
A power line went down in the 400 block of Snap Road.
There have been no reports of injuries due to the storm.
Power outages
As of 3:15 Thursday morning, Warren RECC reports a total of 59 individual outages in their service area, with 1,424 customers without power (at the peak, nearly 2,500 were without power).
In Grayson County, approximately 200 customers are without power in the Anneta area.
The power line going down in the 400 block of Snap Road knocked out power to 148 Wax residents.
There are scattered outages affecting six customers near Millwood, Shrewsbury Road and Elizabethtown Road at Oak Wood Lane.
Kentucky Utilities shows zero outages in Grayson County as of 3:15 Thursday morning.
(Headline photo l-r: A roof torn off a barn in the Sadler Road area, damage to Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson’s property, both photos courtesy of the property owners)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
