Kentucky weather: Severe storms lead to power outages, downed trees, property damage
Severe thunderstorms swept through much of the state Wednesday night, leaving behind downed trees, power lines and property damage in its wake.
As of about 1:30 p.m., over 10,000 people were still without power across the state, according to poweroutage.us, a website that tracks power outages throughout the United States. 1,677 were without power in Fayette County, while 6,576 more were without power in Jefferson County.
Those numbers had been much higher as the storms raged on Wednesday night. Nearly 57,000 people were without power as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to WKYT chief meteorologist Chris Bailey.
In Lexington, there were still power outages scattered throughout most of the city Thursday morning, primarily in the eastern part of town outside of New Circle Road, according to Kentucky Utilities’ outage map. The largest power outages in Lexington are in the Bryan Station, Montclair and Lansdowne areas.
As of about 1:50 p.m., over 1,000 were without power in the Montclair area, according to KU’s outage map. The estimated time of restoration for that outage was 5 p.m.
Multiple intersections on New Circle Road were dark due to power outages Thursday morning. The intersections of New Circle Road at Bryan Station Road, Industry Road, Floyd Drive and Meadow Lane were all dark as of 7:30 a.m., according to the Lexington Traffic Management Center.
Traffic signals were also dark at Tates Creek Road and Cooper Drive, according to the traffic management center. At 10:30 a.m. the traffic management center announced most if not all of the downed intersections had auxiliary power.
The storm appeared to be at its strongest when it roared over Jefferson and Shelby counties before making an appearance in Franklin County. Damage surveys by the National Weather Service are planned for those areas.
The resulting damage forced Jefferson County Public Schools to close Thursday.
The Kentucky Senate had to pause its legislative session as the storm took aim at Frankfort. No damage was reported from the Capitol.
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 7:52 AM.
