Storm damage "widespread," according to officials

Sierra Marling, Richmond Register, Ky.
·4 min read

Jun. 27—Sierra Marling

Madison County residents spent much of Monday morning clearing debris left behind from storm damage.

During the storm, residents and properties were barraged with hail and debris from high winds and local officials said crews and first responders spent much of the early morning hours of Monday clearing roadways and responding to calls.

According to Dan Smaldone of Kentucky Farm Bureau, Madison Countians have submitted approximately 800 claims to their insurance agency, split evenly between property and auto insurance claims, within the first business day following the storm. That means that Madison County has about a third of all the agency's claims from across the state so far.

Smaldone said Madison County was a "focal point" for storm damage.

"So, pretty punishing storm," he concluded. "Lots of high wind, lots of hail. Hail is our main culprit in this."

He added that these are only the initial claims and that more storm-related claims may be filed in the following days, as the reports thus far detailed "lots of broken windows, siding, and damaged roofs" coming out of Madison County.

"This is storm central," he said.

Berea City Manager Rose Beverly noted that the city was mostly dealing with fallen trees while Richmond City Manager Rob Minerich reported "significant" damage from the storm.

"We have trees down at all of our parks properties and also have buildings, dugouts, fencing, and bleachers damaged," Minerich commented.

According to the Richmond city official, Camp Catalpa has a large number of trees down and will remain closed until further notice. Adventure Falls and Paradise Cove were closed Monday and will remain closed through Tuesday to allow crews to clean up debris. In addition, the Gibson Bay Golf Course was set to host a Junior Professional tournament starting Monday morning, but it had to be canceled. However, Minerich reported that the park will be open on Tuesday.

In addition, the metal fencing at Eastern Kentucky University's (EKU) Roy Kidd Stadium blew into the road on Eastern Bypass late Sunday evening.

EKU's Associate Vice President of Public Safety and Facilities,Brian Makinen confirmed that there were other damages to EKU properties as a result of the storm.

"We experienced damage to several barns at Meadowbrook Farm, a couple of athletic stadium fences, a couple of facilities, and many downed trees and tree limbs," he said. "The ongoing response efforts and cleanup will take place over the next few days with little to no impact on the campus or the community. While the damages sustained on campus were minimal, some members of our community living in Madison County were more severely impacted. Our thoughts are with them as they recover."

A large portion of an entrance to the Richmond Mall was damaged as well. On Monday, crews were working to repair the front doorway that collapsed inward towards the mall's interior.

The mall's leasing agent, Vickey Strunk, confirmed that the incident did not hinder business at the mall on Monday and said that patrons were directed to use other entrances.

Strunk also noted that the mall's maintenance director Lydia Bowman had her team on scene quickly to board up the damaged entrance.

Madison County Judge Executive Reagan Taylor declared a state of emergency for the county. Deputy Judge Executive Jill Williams called the damage "widespread."

Williams said the reports of damage from city officials are consistent with what they have experienced on the county level, as reports of damage were more prevalent in the northern part of the county. She cited broken windows and bare-roofed buildings as passing evidence of the storm.

"We have had people out doing assessments and taking pictures so it can be reported to the state emergency management, as well as to FEMA," she said.

Williams further elaborated that their officials were working with employees from the National Weather Service (NWS) as well.

Roads were being cleared by crews through the night, with dispatches beginning as early as 10:30 p.m.

"Our road department started clearing roads at 11:30 p.m. Sunday night and got finished at approximately noon on Monday," Minerich said. "They will continue to clean up tree limbs and debris. Parks grounds maintenance started cleaning up this morning and will make it a priority to get sports fields back open."

Public officials have received no reports of storm-related fatalities thus far.