Published: June 18, 2009 08:27 am      

Severe thunderstorms tear through Tri-County Tuesday evening

By Ivy Brashear / Staff Writer

A severe thunderstorm tore through the Tri-County late Tuesday evening, leaving fallen trees, downed power lines and no electricity for many homes in the region.

Whitley County Dispatch estimated that “the whole county lost power” for about two hours Tuesday night, and that some people within the city limits were still without it Wednesday afternoon.

Most of the damage, however, was minor, with most reports being trees down on power lines or roads.

Williamsburg Firefighter Larry Todd said there were no injuries reported during Tuesday’s storm, and the fire department was called out mostly to help clean up roadways that had been blocked by fallen trees and even large rocks in one case.

“This was just your normal, everyday, straight-line storm,” Todd said. He added that most of the power in the area was off until 2 a.m. Wednesday.

The power outages can be attributed to a tree falling onto a Kentucky Utilities transmission line between Corbin and London sometime between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, said the Media Relations Manager for Kentucky Utilities, Cliff Feltham.