Hopkinsville’s historic downtown district suffers major damage in Friday night thunderstorm

hopkinsville-damage-wkdzcom
hopkinsville-damage-wkdzcom

Hopkinsville’s historic downtown district suffered major damage in a storm Friday.

A thunderstorm packing damaging winds tore through Christian County Friday night at approximately 10:45. The storm did the most damage in Hopkinsville’s historic downtown district, according to a report by WKDZ.com.

A three-story building erected in 1898 that currently houses a restaurant was heavily damaged. The Hopkinsville Fire Department told WKDZ.com that two employees of The Mixer restaurant were inside the building when it partially collapsed. Fortunately, both employees made it safely out of the structure.

Additionally, the Woody Winfree Transportation Museum, home to the city’s historic clock tower, endured major structural damage. The clock tower was built in 1926.

Between 7,000 and 9,000 households and businesses, roughly half the city’s customers, were left without power when the storm struck.

City officials notified the National Weather Service of the damage. That agency “will soon decide” if it will send a storm survey team to investigate whether straight-line winds or a tornado caused the widespread damage.

(Photo: The damage a historic three-story building that houses The Mixer restaurant sustained in Friday night’s storm, courtesy of WKDZ.com)

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com