Kentucky avoids major damage from ice storm but weathers power outages, slick roads
Kentucky and Fayette County began to dig out from a winter storm Friday that blanketed much of the state with a combination of ice, sleet and snow Thursday night and into Friday.
Thanks largely due to higher-than-expected temperatures, ice accumulation in much of the state and Fayette County was lower than first predicted.
The storm comes on the heels of record-setting January snow totals in Fayette County and weekly snow or winter storms since the start of the year.
Less ice meant power outages were not as widespread as in previous ice storms, including the 2009 storm.
Outages throughout the state hit a high of around 20,000 around 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening, according to poweroutage.us, a website that tracks power outages. As of 1 p.m. Friday, approximately 8,000 customers were still without power.
Western Kentucky, where the storm hit first, had the most power outages. Hopkins County had more than 2,300 customers without power Friday afternoon.
Power outages in Central Kentucky were minimal Friday morning but there were still pockets of customers without electricity, including 200 in the Idle Hour area in Lexington, according to Kentucky Utilities, Central Kentucky’s power supplier. The power was expected to be restored to Idle Hour by 3:30 p.m., according to KU’s website.
Road conditions improve but still treacherous
Road conditions were still dicey Friday morning, state and city leaders warned.
The city of Lexington said many major roads were cleared but it was still working on major connector roads and neighborhood streets. As temperatures rose during the day Friday, crews could use salt and other road treatments to help melt ice on roads, city and state leaders said.
Still, Gov. Andy Beshear and Mayor Linda Gorton encouraged people to stay off roads so crews could get to work. The city of Lexington opened all downtown parking garages to allow people parked on downtown streets to move their vehicles at no cost. The free parking will remain until 10 a.m. Sunday.
“We want to get as many vehicles as possible off downtown streets to make it easy to salt and plow the streets,” Gorton said.
Stacey Dimon a public information officer for the city of Lexington, said from 8 p.m. Thursday to 11 a.m. Friday, Lexington police had responded to two injury collisions, four non-injury collisions and four motorist assists. That’s significantly less than a Jan. 6 storm that dumped more than 9 inches of snow on the region. During that event, Lexington police had to suspend taking non-injury collision reports due to the high number of traffic accidents which topped 250 at one point.
“Thanks to so many of our residents who helped us by staying off the roads,” Gorton said. “Our accident count has been low even though roads have been slick. That’s because those who could stay home did so.”
There were also reports of downed trees in Lexington but no injuries were reported.
City officials also stressed residents should not call 9-1-1 to ask about road conditions.
Snow, flooding causes some road closures
In Central Kentucky, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews were working several problem areas, transportation officials said.
In Scott County, crews were working to clear roads of downed trees.
High water and flooding lead to 17 road closures in 12 different counties, according to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet officials.
In Northern Kentucky, state transportation crews were working to remove snow and ice in that area, according to transportation officials. Crews were focusing on a six-mile stretch before the Brent Spence Bridge on Interstate 75.
The National Weather Service is predicting cold temperatures throughout the weekend, making clearing ice and snow from streets and roads more difficult.
Bitterly cold temperatures — a high of 28 degrees and a low of 12 degrees on Friday — will likely keep the layers of ice, sleet and snow on the ground while crews work to clear the roadways.
Saturday’s high will reach 27 degrees with lows in the teens, the weather service reported. Sunday will bring warmer weather with a high of 41 degrees, which will help melt ice and snow.
Many schools, state and local offices closed Friday
Fayette County Public Schools took a traditional snow day instead of offering non-traditional instruction or at-home learning.
The University of Kentucky and other local universities either canceled in-person classes or opted for remote learning. All city and state offices were also closed Friday.
The winter storm also wreaked havoc on air travel. Most department flights from Blue Grass Airport were canceled on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
