Severe weather in Louisville
Louisville, Ky. – With the possibility of severe weather in the Louisville area, local leaders are on high alert.
Mayor Greg Fischer met with his MetroSafe team. Including director Doug Hamilton.
While they said they are hoping the weather threat does not bring a devastating tornado strike to the area, there’s certainly been precedent for it in recent days.
‘We certainly don’t want to be portrayed as saying the sky is falling. But we want to raise the awareness level for everybody for what has been happening across the country. When you see pictures of devastation from Tuscaloosa; Joplin, Missouri and most recently in Oklahoma City, we would be silly not to raise the awareness level of everybody in the community as to what could happen with these tornadoes’ – Fischer said.
National Weather Services offices serving Kentucky have issued several watches. More watches and warnings are expected as the system moves into the area and is capable of producing severe thunderstorms with large hail, high winds and tornadoes. Kentucky has now been placed in the high-risk category, indicating the level of threat has increased as the system moves west.
Fischer urged people to consider purchasing weather radios and to sign up for text alerts from television stations and the National Weather Service. The mayor went on to say that the city is purchasing technology that allows alerts and emails, but the system is not yet in place.
Fischer said outdoor tornado sirens are not meant to be heard indoors.
- Louisville weather office.
Only minor damage has been reported in the Louisville Metro area following Wednesday night’s storms.
A home was damaged in the 8900 block of Third Street Road in Pleasure Ridge Park after winds snapped off the top of a tree.
The branches came down right in front of the homeowner as he watched the rain from his front porch.
‘I was just sitting on the porch. The tree didn’t look safe, and it came down out of nowhere. We immediately took shelter’ – the homeowner said.
Nobody was injured.
The branches did not cause significant damage to the home.
The latest round of severe weather has left a number of people in the dark.
Louisville Gas and Electric power outages are scattered throughout the area.
Currently more than 11.000 people are without power as crews try to fix any problems.
LG&E customers make up about 7.600 of those outages, with about 7.000 being in the Louisville area alone.
Between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, an electrical pole split neat a home in the 3700 block of Roosevelt Avenue in the West Buechel area.
A tree also crashed into a home in that area.
Residents were told to stay away from downed power lines.
Marilyn Ulery, who lives near where the power line went down, said she heard a ‘big crash,’ then the electrical pole split and knocked out their power.
An LG&E supervisor checked the area early Thursday morning, but will be able to better evaluate the situation after daylight.