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Counties clean up following severe weather event

Tornadoes and straight-line winds cause damage across state | Photo: Storm damage in Jessamine County

First responders, county road crews, emergency management personnel and others were quick to spring into action this week when severe weather blew across the state. 

According to the National Weather Service, the April 2 weather event produced 11 confirmed tornadoes and straight-line winds, with damage reported in more than 20 counties.

Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Tuesday. Written or verbal disaster declarations were made in Anderson, Bourbon, Boyd, Clark, Elliott, Fayette, Greenup, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton and Union counties.

In a press conference Thursday, Beshear stressed the importance of all property owners and local officials taking photos and reporting any damage before cleanup begins in an effort to meet the FEMA threshold for assistance to public entities or individuals.

"You look at Jessamine County… there is a significant amount of damage in a very small area," Beshear said. "We’ve seen that in a couple of subdivisions in Propsect as well. So this is [an event] where we’re going to have to have really good recordkeeping and have a whole lot of people submit."

Click here for an overview from Kentucky Emergency Management of damage assessment guidance for counties.

As of Thursday afternoon, KACo has received three insurance claims for storm-related damage to county-owned property:

  • Boyd County road department building
  • Bracken County extension office
  • Greenup County fairgrounds

 

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