Winds and Rain
Storms blew through Southern Illinois and the Tri-State Thursday leaving major damage in western Kentucky, and while there was some damage here in White County, there were no reports of injuries.
Locally, sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour were accompanied with gusts better than 45 miles per hour at times. The high winds left downed tree limbs, and even toppled some trees in the wet and saturated ground.
A number of barns, and sheds in White County were damaged by the straight line winds but there were no reports of tornado activity here in southeastern Illinois.
Throughout the morning Thursday, the National Weather Service continued to issue severe thunderstorm warnings for several counties here in Southern Illinois, including portions of Hardin, Gallatin, and Pope county. While those warnings were in effect for Southern Ilinois, tornado warnings were issued for western Kentucky, where several tornadoes were reported on the ground Thursday morning.
West Paducah seemed to take the brunt of the hit as a number of businesses and homes were damaged during Thursday’s storms.
Here is the National Weather Service’s official summary of Thursday’s tornado activity;
The tornado developed near Cunningham and quickly intensified and widened, reaching 300 yards wide just west of Lovelaceville. The tornado reached its maximum intensity of EF-2 intermittently from just north of Lovelaceville to just southeast of Barkley Regional Airport (west of Paducah).
At least a dozen homes sustained major structural damage, including walls blown outward and partial roof loss. Four cows were killed near Lovelaceville. Dozens of barns, outbuildings, garages, and grain bins were destroyed. Dozens of homes sustained minor damage, such as loss of shingles. A mall on the west side of Paducah sustained some roof damage, as well as an adjacent strip mall. Extensive tree and power line damage caused power outages for thousands. The only reported injury occurred when a grain bin was blown onto a pickup truck on U.S. Highway 62.
Rain accompanied the winds, leaving area ditches and streams running bank full. Local rivers will also be affected by the run-off, however most were below flood stage and while some minor flooding may occur, no major floodwaters are expected at this time.
