More than 20,000 in Kentucky without power after overnight storms
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Severe overnight storms left 21,963 Kentucky customers without power as of 6:15 a.m.
- Tornado warnings were issued in Adair, Bath, Bracken, Daviess, Grayson and other counties.
- Another round of storms is expected Tuesday night with hail and damaging winds possible.
Multiple rounds of overnight severe weather left thousands of Kentucky residents without power Tuesday morning.
As of 7 a.m., there were 21,005 customers in Kentucky without power, according to poweroutage.us. At least 1,000 outages were reported in Barren, Fayette, Jefferson, Madison Oldham and Woodford counties.
LG&E & KU’s power outage map shows a large outage affecting 802 customers in the Zandale neighborhood, between Nicholasville Road and Tates Creek Road, in Lexington. The outage was caused by trees in power lines, and power is expected to be restored around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Fayette County Public Schools spokesperson Miranda Scully confirmed that the outage included Glendover Elementary School. Scully said the school is operating on a normal schedule with the use of a generator.
“We are working with Kentucky Utilities to assess the situation and restore power,” Scully said.
There was another large outage affecting 121 customers in the Lake Crossing neighborhood, near Man O’ War Boulevard, according to the outage map. Power is expected to be restored around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The severe storms passed through the state overnight Monday, April 27, to Tuesday, April 28, prompting several severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings in Adair, Bath, Bracken, Daviess, Grayson, Green, Hardin, Hart, Henderson, Henry, Hopkins, Larue, Mason, McLean, Ohio, Oldham, Pendleton, Robertson, Rowan, Shelby, Taylor and Webster counties during the storms, according to the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.
There have been no confirmed reports of tornado damage in Kentucky as of Tuesday morning. There were preliminary reports of trees down in Adair, Green Henderson, Henry, Ohio, Oldham and Taylor counties, building damage in McLean County and flash flooding in Jefferson County, according to the National Weather Service.
The storms also produced strong winds. Since midnight, wind gusts of at least 50 mph were reported in Barren, Hart, Mercer, Ohio, Oldham, Nicholas and Trimble counties, according to the Kentucky Mesonet.
There were two wind gusts of at least 40 mph reported in Fayette County around 1:50 a.m., according to the Kentucky Mesonet.
The Frankfort Plant Board shared several photos on Facebook of a large downed tree on Ewing Road. The fallen tree causes several power outages, but the board said many of the outages have been fixed.
More severe weather expected Tuesday night
Another round of severe weather is expected to hit Kentucky overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. The threat isn’t as high as Monday night’s storms, but some Western and Southern Kentucky counties are under a slight risk for severe weather, the second-highest assessment out of five in the NWS’ storm prediction center.
Slight risk implies organized severe thunderstorms with low coverage, according to the NWS. Lexington is under a marginal risk for severe weather, which implies severe storms of limited organization or longevity.
Large hail and damaging wind gusts are the main threats, while the risk of tornadoes is low, according to the NWS. The storms will travel southeast and are expected to hit between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. In Lexington, severe weather is expected between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.
Additional rainfall from Tuesday night’s projected storms could cause minor flooding, the NWS said.
