Updated: Power restored for many after gusty winds, rain roll through Lexington

With a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for parts of central Kentucky, nearly 17,000 customers lost power in Fayette County late Wednesday afternoon.

As of Thursday morning, that number had dropped to fewer than 6,000.

The National Weather Service in Louisville issued a statement around 4:55 p.m. Wednesday, noting a severe thunderstorm warning was in effect through 5:30 p.m. for Clark, eastern Jessamine, southeastern Bourbon, northeastern Madison and southeastern Fayette counties.

Hazards include wind gusts up to 60 mph and possible penny-sized hail.

The Kentucky Utilities power outage map showed 16,750 Lexington customers without power as of 5:22 p.m.

Lexington Emergency Management officials said in a tweet the outages may affect some traffic signals around the city, and drivers should treat such intersections as four-way stops. Downed trees and power lines were also reported.

A number of outages were also reported in Louisville, and the company estimated roughly 35,147 people were without power across the entire service area.

This story will be updated.

This story was originally published July 6, 2022 at 5:10 PM.