High Wind — Elliott, Kentucky

2023-04-01 · Elliott, Kentucky

Event narrative

Two reports of wind damage were made in Elliott County. The first was at 1:40 PM EDT, when a tree was reported to have been blown down along KY-1621. A powerline was also blown down in the vicinity, which led to a fire. Then shortly after at 1:45 PM, two reports were made. The first was of a tree that had been blown down near the intersection of Wallow Hole Road and KY-486, near the community of Culver. The second was a tree that had been blown down along KY-504 just ENE of Stark.

Wider weather episode

After an intense wind storm in early March, strong to damaging winds once again struck eastern Kentucky on April 1st. Another unseasonably intense low pressure system tracked from the Upper Midwest to across the Great Lakes, pulling a cold front across the area during the wee morning hours of April 1st. Storms along the front put down torrential downpours with pockets of strong gusty winds. This led to a few instances of poor drainage/small stream flooding as well as downed trees before sunrise. However, the more significant weather arrived mid to late morning as skies cleared and southwesterly winds increased sharply ahead of the storm system's secondary cold front. During the midday to mid afternoon hours, southwesterly wind gusts peaked between 30 and 50 mph in many of the valley locations, with gusts of 55 to 60 mph commonly being observed in the more open countryside and atop ridges. The strongest reported gust, 70 mph, was observed at a Kentucky Mesonet station atop Flatwoods (elevation 2,774 feet ASL) in Pike County.

The strong to damaging winds resulted in many trees being blown down onto power lines and snapped power poles. Power outages exceeded more than 50,000 customers across the Commonwealth. A vast majority of those outages were reported in eastern Kentucky and were most concentrated in the eastern Kentucky Coalfield. Kentucky Power, which covers much of southeast Kentucky took 3+ days to restore power in their service area. Repairs included replacing at least 79 power poles, 30 miles of power lines, 70 cross arms, and 44 transformers. The Big Sandy RECC also took at least two days to restore power to 3,171 of its approximately 12,500 customers. Aside from damage to power infrastructure, two individuals reportedly sustained injuries during the high wind event -- a branch struck a hiker near Natural Bridge and another tree fell on a fire truck in Letcher County. There were also numerous reports of downed trees and multiple instances of structural damage. The most notable building damage was reported in Floyd County where the Triple A Market in Martin lost its roof and an apartment building in Prestonsburg partially collapsed.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1095315. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.