Storm

Rodney Guedel volunteered to help his neighbor, Janie Gross of Holiday Road, remove several large tree limbs from her yard after they fell victim to the strong winds accompanying a cold front Tuesday afternoon. Other than requiring some cleanup, the limbs caused no damage to her home. The Clark County Road Department and the state Department of Highways responded to several calls of trees blocking roads from the storm.

The Allen Chapel C.M.E. church steeple and cross on East Broadway are in stark contrast to the dark clouds that moved over Winchester Thursday afternoon. The clouds brought thunder and lightning and less than a quarter inch of rain. James Mann/jmann@winchestersun.com

A crew from Winchester Public Works spent part of Monday morning removing a tree that fell victim to the high winds of Saturday's thunderstorm. Removing a tree that was blocking a section of the Winchester Traveling Trail were, from left, top photo, Donald Lyle, operating backhoe; Jerry Brinegar and Estill Perkins. Brinegar pulled a large limb from the tree to be loaded in a waiting dump truck, bottom photo. The Clark County Road Department also was out Monday morning cleaning up trees downed in the county.

I was utterly dumbfounded this weekend to discover that America’s economic woes have been caused by the recent outbreak of storms in the Southeast. That’s what Nancy Pelosi said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” so it must be true! How can Washington people really expect us to take them seriously? It’s as if we’re supposed to believe that the economy was booming, everybody was back to work and then along came these dastardly storms and ruined everything! Frankly, I was surprised to discover that the South was even all that important to the rest of America.

Despite severe weather and heavy rains throughout the weekend, Clark County was left with little damage. “We’ve been out checking. … We fared pretty well,” said Kevin Wilson, Clark County road supervisor. Road crews cleared a downed tree from Four Mile Road, Wilson said, but no other damage was reported. On Monday, as the Ohio and Mississippi rivers headed for "historic" flood levels, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency. Most of the hardest hit areas from the series of storms are in western Kentucky.

STANFORD — Winds that ripped through part of Lincoln County when many people were getting ready for work and school Monday morning left considerable destruction in their wake. The storm appeared to move just south of Stanford, causing the heaviest damage along U.S. 27. It has not been confirmed whether a funnel cloud touched down, but residents like Jim Baughman, whose farm and home are on U.S. 27, are convinced that the storm had the force of a tornado. “I don’t think there’s any question,” Baughman said.

An ordinance prohibiting any discharge other than stormwater from entering the municipal storm sewer system received a first reading at Tuesday’s meeting of the Winchester Board of Commissioners. The ordinance is the second of three measures the city must pass to stay in compliance with the Kentucky Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Phase II Stormwater Program. In December, the Kentucky Division of Water issued a notice of violation because the city’s stormwater management system did not meet state and federal regulations.

Sirens wailed across Winchester in the early morning as severe weather forced tornado warnings and power outages across Clark County. According to Kentucky Utilities, 3,100 customers were without power in¿Clark County this morning, as well as another 1,500 in Fayette County. Emergency responders also reported a tree limb down and entangled with a power line near U.S. 60 and Clintonville Road early this morning. Weather sirens sounded around 6:30 a.m. in Winchester for severe weather.

FRANKFORT ? With our thoughts understandably focused on what has been called the most widespread natural disaster in Kentucky's history, my legislative colleagues and I returned to the Capitol the first week of February to begin the main portion of the 2009 Regular Session. We spent our opening days learning more about the recent storm's damage and the unprecedented response that followed. The storm has unfortunately claimed more than two dozen lives so far, and at its peak, more than 760,000 homes were without power.

STANFORD - Mayor Bill Miracle is hopeful Stanford won't have to return any of the approximately $100,000 it received from the federal government for recovery costs following the devastating 2009 ice storm. Miracle told city council members last week that financial records from the ice storm recovery have been re-organized and re-submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA returned the documents earlier this year, telling Stanford officials the records were too disorganized to understand.

The first reading of a county ordinance that would govern how land developers manage storm-water runoff was passed Tuesday by the Jessamine County Fiscal Court.  The ordinance requires a second reading before becoming enacted. The first reading  was postponed at the court's last meeting March 19  to give magistrates time to read it over. The ordinance, prepared by Chris Horne of Horne Engineering, was on the agenda for a first reading at that time because it must be submitted to the state as part of a mandatory annual plan, said Kelley Woolums, administrative assistant to county Judge-Executive Neal Cassity.

This morning I heard a very loud clap of thunder that made me return to my childhood memories of thunderstorms. I have to say my first remembrance of a thunderstorm happened when I had very limited memory of anything, and my age at the time, I am not sure, but I am guessing I was about 4. I remember Momma gathering her brood of five together and putting us under her and Daddy's bed on a pallet, as she called it, until the storm went over. More than once this happened and we were ushered under the bed. My mom was afraid of thunderstorms, I believe, and I too have grown up wary of them.

The Lake of the Orchard Association is seeking the Nicholasville City Commission's assistance regarding a possible solution for its long-standing storm water drainage issues. Gene Hoten, president of the Lake of the Orchard Association, asked the city during its March 12 meeting to contribute $7,000 to $10,000 to help pay for an Ohio-based company to come down and clean the lake of storm runoff debris such as leaves and grass clippings. Hoten said since the lake was established in 1984, storm drain runoff has caused the lake to become more and more shallow.

While I may not have a child in school, I was out raged by the events of 1-30-13. As you may recall there were some bad storms that went through the whole state. As I watched the T.V. and listened to the weather ban I was starting to get very concurned. The closer the strom got, the closer it got to the time that the kids would have to go out into the storm. I watched the T.V. as school after school either closed or at least went on a hour delay I could not find Lincoln. What happened?

Sirens wailed across Winchester in the early morning as severe weather forced tornado warnings and power outages across Clark County. According to Kentucky Utilities, 3,100 customers were without power in¿Clark County this morning, as well as another 1,500 in Fayette County. Emergency responders also reported a tree limb down and entangled with a power line near U.S. 60 and Clintonville Road early this morning. Weather sirens sounded around 6:30 a.m. in Winchester for severe weather.

Judie Mason could see the storm coming. The Danville girls hadn't played in nine days, and their opponent in the first round of their Christmas tournament was no pushover. So their coach was ready for a rocky start Thursday night. The Admirals weathered the storm, however, rallying in the second quarter and taking control in the third to defeat Henry Clay 60-43 in the first round of the Lady Ads Christmas Tournament. Danville (5-1) scored eight straight points early in the second quarter to get back in the game after Henry Clay (4-3)

Once again, Clark County community members are reaching out to people impacted by a natural disaster. As they did after last year's tornadoes destroyed towns in Kentucky, a group of individuals is collecting items to send to victims of Superstorm Sandy in New York. Conkwright Middle School staff and students are collecting items for Pave Academy, a Brooklyn school where many students' homes were destroyed or heavily damaged by the storm. The effort, which continues through Friday, began after school volunteer Shawna Wells saw a post on the Internet about the school's needs.

July 27, 1987 Several hundred homes were without electricity Sunday night and early today after an early evening storm packing high winds, lightning and rain rumbled through Clark County. The storm, part of a wide band of storms which moved across central Kentucky Sunday night, also toppled a few trees locally and caused no major traffic problems and no major injuries. Local dentist Dr. John I. Gray recently presented a check for $550 on behalf of himself and his corporation to Dr. Rankin Skinner, coach of the local soccer team that will tour Ecuador next month.

The Allen Chapel C.M.E. church steeple and cross on East Broadway are in stark contrast to the dark clouds that moved over Winchester Thursday afternoon. The clouds brought thunder and lightning and less than a quarter inch of rain. James Mann/jmann@winchestersun.com