Live weather updates: Beshear confirms no reported fatalities, urges continued caution for residents

NWS Paducah believes at least 3 tornadoes hit west KY, awaiting surveys to confirm

Killian Baarlaer

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Paducah believe three tornadoes touched down in west Kentucky Wednesday night, though confirmation won't come for a few days as on-the-ground surveys are paused due to the unrelenting forecast, NWS meteorologist Justin Gibbs said.

The suspected tornadoes were in Ballard, Calloway and Hopkins counties, though more could have impacted the area, based on reports. NWS Paducah issued more than a dozen tornado warnings in west Kentucky Wednesday night, Gibbs said.

The timeline for surveys depends on how the next couple days pan out.

"It'll be some time probably before we have a good idea of just how many tornadoes actually occurred," Gibbs said.

Heavy rain and the possibility of severe storms are expected to continue in Paducah through Saturday as a cold front hunkers down over the region. The heaviest rain is expected to hit Friday night and Saturday morning in west Kentucky, where the weather system's heavy-rain axis appears to be settling, Gibbs said.

The area has received about 2.5 inches of rain since the storms moved in Wednesday night, but several more inches are likely to come. The NWS predicts the weather event will dump around 10 inches of rain or more on west Kentucky when all is said and done, Gibbs said.

Flash flooding is expected to impact the area while the heavy rain falls, followed by river and areal flooding risks for several days after as water runs off into nearby streams and rivers.

East Louisville homes near Beckley Creek Park damaged

Stephanie Kuzydym

In east Louisville's Beckley Hills, near Beckley Creek Park, roofers were seen laying dark blue tarps on one of more than a dozen homes damaged in the neighborhood by Wednesday night's storms.

Siding and other metal debris was scattered across lawns throughout the neighborhood. Cars that had been dented and scraped by debris were towed.

Construction companies drove up and down the street to different homes as one woman hopped out of a red Jeep to place a yard sign for roofing services before jumping back into her car and driving away.

Megan Hundley wore blue latex gloves as she added debris to a growing pile in her front yard. Her family has lived in the community for four years and decided to take a staycation for this year’s spring break. The lightning, thunder and wind led to debris hitting her house and waking her up around 12:40 a.m.”It was just a lot of noise and then trash everywhere,” she said.

A window in her bathroom shattered as rain fell into her home.

Her young daughter slept through the entire night.

Louisville Emergency Management begins assessments

Stephanie Kuzydym

The National Weather Service in Louisville is usually at the forefront of defining a tornado’s damage in the metro area, but assessments from Wednesday's storms will begin with the Louisville Emergency Management team following cuts at the federal agency, officials said Thursday.

A lack of availability in staffing, as well as the active and prolonged weather event that continues throughout the country, is preventing the weather service from venturing out Thursday to assess the damage to more than a dozen Jeffersontown businesses and homes five miles east near Beckley Creek Park.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Metro relies heavily on federal partners for support during severe weather.

“We rely on the National Weather Service for their accurate and very helpful weather forecast so that we can prepare for situations like this … [and] agencies like FEMA to help individuals get back on their feet, to help businesses recover, to help people to repair their homes to get back into their homes,” Greenberg said. “So we are very hopeful we will have the cooperation and support of all federal agencies — NWS, FEMA and others.”

EMA operations coordinator Amber Rose said a survey team from NWS Louisville would eventually join the assessment, but a report from the service isn't required to begin the process.

“There are still going to be surveys done, just not (immediately) with the National Weather Service,” Rose said. “The assessments are not directly tied to one another. We don’t have to have a tornado positively identified by the National Weather Service in order to proceed with normal disaster declarations and disaster assistance.”

Beshear: No reported fatalities so far, residents urged to remain cautious

Marina Johnson

During his weekly Team Kentucky update Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear said no fatalities have been reported so far as a result of recent severe weather, although some tornadoes have touched down and damaged homes and businesses.

The primary injuries reported have been the family hospitalized in Ballard County and McCracken County's Barkley Regional Airport in West Paducah was hit by a tornado and sustained damages, Beshear said. Several commercial buildings also sustained damage in Jefferson County.

Beshear urges residents in the coming days to use caution on the roads and be aware of possible flash and widespread flooding — especially in west and central Kentucky — after 24 people were killed across the commonwealth in the February floods.

"We're thankful that everyone is safe, but the next thing we have to do is to make sure we stay safe," Beshear said. "The February flooding ... showed us that especially when we have this much rain, it's the decisions about when to get out, about what to drive through, when to go stay with someone else that can be the difference between life and death."

Beshear said emergency management and swift water teams are activated and will be prepared to assist in the next few days. The Kentucky National Guard is also on standby.

"We will get through this if everyone takes the rising and standing water seriously. Don't drive through roadways you cannot see," he said. "It's how we lost too many people in the past. It's not worth it. Just turn around."

Business off Plantside Drive open to the sky after tornado rips off roof

Stephanie Kuzydym

A chunk of insulation hung from a basketball hoop.

A brown bear, soaked by rain, rested on its side among the tornado’s debris.

His Kids Academy, a daycare at 1920 Campus Place, was destroyed by the storm. The building’s roof had become the open sky. Windows on the second floor were no longer made of glass.

A television helicopter and drones flew above the exposed two-story brick structure and a collection of businesses off Plantside Drive and Campus Place as the beep of a security system echoed through a battered building.

Closer to the main road, a University of Louisville umbrella stood propped against a business front as Bill Warren carried a computer out the front door that no longer had glass. He and his wife, Jenny, got the call at 12:30 a.m. that their business had been hit.

Warren Technology, a woman-owned technology networking business, has been in its location in Jeffersontown off Plantside Drive and Campus Place since 1999. It was one of several businesses, including JSO Wood Product, Ogle Equipment Sales, KME Maintenance and Electric and Woodstone Reality, in a strip of offices that also no longer had a roof. Insulation and broken glass was strewn across the parking lot. Bricks were falling off the building.

They were recovering equipment to be able to set up a temporary location.

Just a few doors down, surrounded by insulation and a bent garage door held together by a string, Todd Wright put together a new dolly.

'We have to push forward': Fairdale woman recounts storm ripping through home

Krista Johnson

Misty Vincent stood at the start of her front yard Thursday morning, looking at the roof of her family’s Fairdale home lying at her feet.

“It’s like the sky opened up inside,” she said, describing the scene in which she, her four children and her two pets ran into the bathroom of the fabricated home and huddled inside the tub as rain poured onto them.

Vincent said she and her family were looking out of the back windows of their home when they saw a funnel begin to form over them early Thursday morning. Shortly after, water began to pour down the walls inside and the bathroom ceiling was starting to cave in, she said.

As the sirens continued to blare, Vincent said she prayed for their safety, the safety of her soon-to-be-born granddaughter and for her neighbors, who luckily did not sustain much to any damage.

A single mother who just underwent eye surgery earlier in the week, Vincent has had to steady herself despite the wreckage — her mailbox on the other side of the road — because, as she put it, she must. Her children who were in the home during the storm — ages 6 to 16, with one expecting a baby in early June — are already terrified. Along with their home, many of their belongings are also ruined.

Vincent has lived in the home for 18 years and made countless memories, she said, but she and her family are determined to make new ones with the belongings they can salvage.

Papa Johns headquarters sustains damage in Jeffersontown

Stephanie Kuzydym

Workers in neon yellow safety vests installed plywood to multiple windows of the Papa Johns Headquarters in Jeffersontown after the building sustained minor damage in Wednesday's storms.

The campus, which extends from Campus Place to Tucker Station, also had property damage throughout, including a twisted fence along its western border and uprooted trees to the south. At least one tractor trailer was overturned and a piece of metal roof was on the ground near Papa Johns Boulevard.

More assessors were seen on the roof of the building Wednesday morning.

"Papa Johns Louisville Restaurant Support Center and our Quality Control Center – KY did sustain damage during the storms of April 2-3," Papa Johns spokesperson Harrison Sheffield said in a statement. "We are grateful none of our team members have been injured and that all have been accounted as safe.

"As we are continuing to assess the extent of the damage, both facilities remain closed for the time being."

'We'll be back': Storm causes significant property damage to Jeffersontown business

Eleanor McCrary

One Jeffersontown business owner is starting to pick up the pieces after the strong line of storms that spawned a tornado in the area Wednesday left most of his property destroyed.

Tim Meagher, owner of J&J Transportation at the corner of Plantside Drive and Blankenbaker Road in Jeffersontown, said he believes at least 10 tractors and trailers on his property were damaged during the storm, though more damage was sustained by the main building.

"I mean, probably over half the building is torn up," he said.

Meagher said he discovered there was damage when his alarm service sent him an alert just after midnight. His co-owner, Mark Plummer, was in the building when it happened, but suffered no injuries.

One of his drivers, Randall Lampkin, was sleeping in the cab of a truck outside the building when a trailer was lifted into the air and slammed into it, Meagher said, but was also uninjured during the storm.

Meagher is still assessing the impact, but his company is still attempting to fulfill work orders from customers despite the destruction.

"If I don't get it taken care of, they'll get somebody else to take care of it," he said. "They might never call me again. So we gotta make it happen."

Meagher said the business will remain open as cleanup continues.

"I was tore up," he said. "I'm just glad nobody's hurt. We can fix this building. We'll be back."

Tornado hits half a dozen businesses in one block in Jeffersontown

Stephanie Kuzydym

As rain sprinkled, Louisville Deputy Mayor David James and Jeffersontown Fire Department officials surveyed damages to businesses off Plantside Drive and Campus Place.

Half a dozen businesses, including a day care, sustained high speed winds that knocked in garage doors, tore apart metal roofs and spread insulation in trees and across parking lots.

JFD Major Darin Nation along with a fire engine crew were on their second round of surveys before 10 a.m. Nation said businesses from Blankenbaker Parkway to Tucker Station Road sustained damage and buildings off Technology Drive and Ampere Drive were flattened.

James said crews were still doing assessments so numbers of businesses impacted were not yet available.

Boy in critical condition after Ballard County storms

Marina Johnson

An 8-year-old boy is in critical condition and has been transported to an out-of-state hospital after facing life-threatening injuries in Ballard County Wednesday night.

Ballard County Director of Emergency Management Travis Holder said a family of four, including a mother, father, daughter and son, were sheltering under a carport at Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church when they sustained injuries between 8:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. The church experienced a direct hit from debris brought by two simultaneous twin storm systems and all members of the family were taken to Mercy Health in Paducah.

The boy was eventually taken to an out-of-state hospital after doctors assessed his condition.

Holder said the agency is in the process of assessing storm damages. While damage is not as bad as anticipated, he urged nonresidents to stay out of the area.

Louisville remains under flood watch. See rainfall totals from Wednesday

John Tufts

A flood watch remains in effect from Thursday until Sunday morning after heavy rains hammered the Midwest and Louisville area. Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Louisville issued a hazardous weather outlook for portions of southern Indiana and central Kentucky, saying rounds of additional showers will be possible Thursday into Friday night.

Some storms may be strong to severe, according to NWS, with damaging winds and isolated tornadoes possible.

NWS meteorologist Mark Jarvis said Wednesday's rainfall totals were the following:

• 1.59" rainfall at NWS office in Louisville
• 0.99" Bowman Field
• 1.02" Louisville International Airport

NWS provides update on overnight storm damage, rainfall totals

Marina Johnson

NWS Meteorologist Andrea Schoettmer said preliminary findings reveal potential damages in Jeffersontown and east of Middletown areas, as well as near Valley Station.

The agency isn't planning to survey areas until early next week, beginning on Sunday or Monday with ongoing weather conditions. Schoettmer said most of Jefferson County saw about an inch and a half to two inches of rain Wednesday night, with areas of south central Kentucky seeing two to three inches.

An additional 6-8 inches of rain is expected in the Louisville area in the coming days, with a Level 2 risk in place the next three days.

Around 3,500 LG&E customers without power

Marina Johnson

About 3,500 LG&E and KU customers are without power as of Thursday morning after severe weather swept across the commonwealth Wednesday night, LG&E and KU spokesperson Liz Pratt said.

Pratt said in total, about 30,000 customers were impacted beginning Wednesday afternoon and there were just over 200 reports of downed wires. Most of the outages were concentrated to east and southeast Jefferson County with some stretching east toward other commonwealth cities.

Pratt said the company mobilized crews and contracting partners earlier in the week in anticipation of the severe weather. The company's more than 40 crew centers across the service area go through a priority process where they focus on public safety and downed wires before shifting to any impacted critical services followed by businesses and residential customers.

Customers can get the latest information on outages in their area by visiting the LG&E website or using the company's mobile app.

Tornado confirmed in Jeffersontown, Middletown areas

Marina Johnson

A tornado has been confirmed in the Jeffersontown and Middletown area, according to the National Weather Service.

According to a NWS post to X, formerly Twitter, at about 12:40 a.m., the tornado touched down in Jefferson County and passed through the Interstate 64 and Interstate 265 interchange with several area establishments seeing damage.

Damages have been reported in East Jefferson County in the Beckley Hills subdivision with downed trees and damage to roofs and windows. Similarly, east Jeffersontown had a partial building collapse on Ampere Drive, according to weather reports.

Reporters and photographers with The Courier Journal are headed to the area. Additional information will be available soon.

Storms cancel flights at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport

Marina Johnson

Some flights to and from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport are being canceled or delayed due to recent severe weather.

According to the airport's flight tracker, two flights -- one to Chicago and one to Dallas -- have been canceled while several others are delayed. Delayed flights will arrive and depart between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. to and from locations like Chicago, Miami, Houston and Atlanta.

Spokesperson Natalie Chaudoin said, "Anyone traveling today should closely monitor their flight status through their airline's website or mobile app for the most up-to-date information."

Four injured in Ballard County storms

Marina Johnson

Four people were injured after what "appears to have been a tornado" in Ballard County, located about four hours from Louisville on the eastern border of Kentucky and Illinois.

Ballard County Emergency Management said in a Facebook post that four sustained injuries in Gage, an unincorporated community, when attempting to take shelter in their vehicle under the carport of a church. The church suffered a direct hit from the debris, causing significant structural damage, and all four were taken to a local hospital. One was in critical condition, while the other three were facing non-life-threatening injuries.

Ballard County Emergency Management will conduct damage assessments beginning Thursday morning and encourages those who may have been impacted to contact the Office at 270-665-9928 after 8 a.m. to get on the assessment list.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this devastating event," the post said.

Rain expected to continue over next few days

Marina Johnson

Louisville's 5-day forecast

Thursday

Chance of precipitation is 100%. High near 68 with a low around 56. South winds of 5-11 mph become northeast in the afternoon. New rainfall during the day is between a quarter and half of an inch possible with 1-2 inches possible Thursday night.

Friday

Chance of precipitation is 70% to 90% with new rainfall amounts of between a half and three quarters of an inch possible during the day, followed by between a quarter and half of an inch possible at night. High near 74 with a low around 66. Northeast winds around 6 mph becoming southwest of around 11 mph in the evening.

Saturday

Chance of precipitation is between 90% and 100%. High near 74 with a low around 49. Southwest winds of around 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. New rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches possible during the day followed by 2-3 inches possible at night.

Sunday

Chance of precipitation is 80%. Storms mainly before 8 a.m. but likely after 8 a.m. High near 54 with a low around 37. Mostly cloudy.

Monday

Sunny skies turn partly cloudy, with a high near 58 and low of 30.