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Week In Pictures
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An overnight storm destroyed more than two weeks of preparation for the annual Ichthus festival, which starts Thursday in Wilmore. High winds threw tables, chairs and tents across the area.
“Several of them were just totally shredded,” Ichthus director Jeff James said of the vendor and sponsor tents. A telephone pole was snapped into three pieces, he said.
The severe thunderstorm struck Central Kentucky about midnight Monday, downing trees and power lines and creating some traffic hazards during the morning rush hour.
James said he expects the Ichthus festival to start Thursday as planned, but that 90 percent of the setup has been destroyed.
Groups, including the Christian Appalachian Project disaster-relief team, one of the festival’s sponsors, started cleanup Tuesday morning.
“Frankly, I hope that by Thursday no one will be able to tell that this happened,” James said.
Phone lines will have to be rerun through vendor tents, he said.
James said he thought there might be some damage at the site after the storm passed through the area early Tuesday, but the damage was much worse than he expected.
“I was kind of speechless when I drove out,” he said.
In Lexington, lightning might have caused a fire at a vacant apartment building at 1101 Centre Parkway, reported about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday. Lexington fire investigators were working to determine the cause of the blaze.
About 6,300 Kentucky Utilities customers in Fayette County were without power Tuesday morning because of downed trees and power lines, KU spokesman Cliff Feltham said. About 14,000 KU customers in Lexington, Lawrenceburg, Versailles and Midway were without power at the peak of the storm. Feltham said crews will be working all day to restore power.
Traffic signals were not working at Tates Creek Road and Man o’ War Boulevard and Athens-Boonesboro Road at Interstate 75 Tuesday morning. Trees and power lines were down on Mount Horeb Pike, Johnston Road and Lemons Mills. Power lines also also were down near Third Street and Broadway.
The right lane of outbound Tates Creek, between Old Mount Tabor Road and Rebecca Drive, was closed Tuesday morning as KU crews worked in the area. A tree was in the roadway at Alexandria Drive and Viley Road.
The thunderstorm passed over Lexington about midnight and ended by 1 a.m., according to the National Weather Service in Louisville. Winds of about 45 mph were recorded at Blue Grass Airport. Penny-size hail was reported throughout Central Kentucky, including in Fayette and Jessamine counties, meteorologist John Denman said.
Scattered thunderstorms were expected to continue Tuesday morning as a cold front moved across south central Indiana and Central Kentucky, the weather service reported. Showers were expected to end by this afternoon. Reach Shawntaye Hopkins at (859) 231-1386 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1386.
