Good evening everyone. Severe thunderstorms rolled across parts of central and eastern Kentucky earlier this evening causing all kinds of problems. From damaging winds to local flash flooding… these storms certainly packed a heck of a punch.
A cluster of severe storms formed across southern Indiana this afternoon and slammed the Louisville metro soon thereafter. Winds were clocked at nearly 70mph at the height of the storm in Louisville. The storm knocked out power to nearly one hundred thousand customers in Jefferson County. Trees and powerlines were strewn about.
This damaging wind producing cluster of storms then worked eastward through Shelbyville and Frankfort. Much of Franklin county was hit hard by damaging winds. It is at this point the NWS in Louisville stopped issuing warnings on these storms.
These bad boys then moved into the Lexington metro with Fayette, Scott, Woodford and Bourbon counties feeling the brunt of the severe weather. Power was knocked out to tens of thousands of customers… trees were knocked down on homes and cars and MANY roads remain closed due to downed trees and powerlines. All of this without a warning from the NWS. Why? I have no idea. You have a line of storms with a histoy of damaging winds and you basically just drop the ball as these storms move into your second most populated area on a busy Saturday evening and no warning?
To make matters worse… the NWS in Louisville (as of this writing and nearly 2 hours after the storms) has yet to acknowledge there was severe weather in this area as they have relayed ZERO severe weather reports. I would seriously hope they are not turning a blind eye to an area they failed to warn.
Maybe some of our friends from the office in Louisville can drop by with some idea as to why this happened.
This isn’t a slam of the NWS… but this is a legitimate issue that needs to be discussed.
This line of storms is now moving across eastern Kentucky and is not carrying the same punch as earlier. We will have to watch another line of storms to our northwest that may dive in overnight. Here are your radars to track the storms…
Have a great rest of your evening and take care.
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Tree damage all across Shelby County. The winds got pretty bad here.
Something serious has happened at an Indianapolis fairgrounds/race track. Don’t know if it’s weather-related, but several people are being transported by medic, some critical.
Chris was nice with this post. I thought the NWS existed to warn the public of potential damage of life and property. Georgetown was nailed, there is no other way to describe what happened tonight. Out of 8 of my neighbors homes, there are 2 trees down through front windows into living rooms, another tree came down on a car, another home had their picket fence blown down, and the other 4 have shingles completely blown off their roof. We have a 2×3 foot section of collapsed ceiling in our garage from water and wind. Thousands are without power in our county. Roads are impassible. How can the NWS completely miss this call? There’s no excuse.
We used to live in the Canton, OH area, 60 miles south of Cleveland. When the Canton NWS office closed in 89, the same thing happened. The only place it ever stormed was Cleveland, we never had warnings no matter how bad the storm was. I guess for the NWS, if it’s not happening in their backyard, it isn’t happening anywhere.
Chris, we thank you immensely for your blog and your constant updates. The people we are paying to do the job aren’t getting it done. I learned early when the Masterson tornado hit in 04 without a warning that we needed to stay diligent around here. We miss you on local TV, but again, thank you for keeping us informed.
Over 800 listeners at Marion county emergency channel. Something going on at the Main stage and grandstands. Perhaps a collapse, still trying to determine the nature of the emergency…
I’m in northern, Indiana visiting my parents, and the stage collapse at the Fairgrounds in Indianapolis is weather related. We’ve had terrible thunderstorms here. It was a Sugarland concert and the rigging (lights and sound system) collapsed. The breaking news coverage is saying that at least four people are critically injured, including a child, with dozens of others injured. From what we hear they are trying to rescue people who are still trapped, using a crane. They are saying it’s a level one emergency.
I was at work at Boston Road Kroger and the wind was some serious stuff. The rain was falling hard and the wind was blowing fast. Not much lightning, but the power did flicker which I assume was due to the wind.
Jake
Just got power back here in Lex (Lansdowne and Tates Creek). I went out at about 7:10. That was one hell of a storm. I would say gusts to 70 mph, OVER AND OVER. I cannot recall a storm around here where the wind kept coming like that. It was basically a 30 minute category one hurricane (seen my share of ‘canes).
extreme lighting and rain in Laurel County.
At least four people reported dead at the collapsed stage incident at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis.
WOW, but I’m not completely suprised….isn’t the National Weather Service a government agency??!?! Hope the people that deserved a proper warning gets an apology.
There has been alot of lightning/rain for the last hour in East Bernstadt/London area.
If you want to see a video of the stage collapsing in Indiana, here’s a youtube video my friend Ryan found.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdpzTOTo_UI
It’s blurry, but the collapse looks absolutely horrible.
Thank You CB for being there. The NWS was TERRIBLE tonight. Makes me wonder, did the NWS office in Indy drop the ball too?
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