GARRARD CO., Ky. (LEX 18) — Multiple structures were damaged Thursday morning by the storms passing through central Kentucky. In Garrard County, there were multiple locations where barns and structures were damaged.
In southern Garrard County, near the Garrard-Lincoln County line, a property was littered with debris from two barns. The barns were both flattened, with wood and metal from the roof sitting in the field.
There was also a house on the property that was missing a post on its front porch and had a chimney toppled, but property owners said that the house is at times rented out, and nobody was at the house when the storm blew through.
“I couldn’t think. I just started crying,” said Wanda Booth, who owns the property. “It was terrible. Of course, Scott had already told me that the barns and everything were gone, so I was expecting that, but it’s just terrible.”
“I got a call that all of our stuff was gone, and I got told that the roof of that building came off,” said Karleigh Barnes, Booth’s granddaughter. “I came down here with them, and everything is gone.”
Barnes was at the property early in the morning with other friends and family to start clearing the debris.
Along with the barn debris, a wagon was flipped over in the road, and power crews had to remove lines that were also in the roadway.
“We think the wagon went through all the power lines down there and that’s why there’s wires everywhere,” Barnes said.
There were also multiple trees bent and snapped, and some debris and equipment even blew over into the field. A shed had been lifted from its foundation and sat in a pile of rubble a few feet away.
The group clearing the debris said they had some equipment in there for their business, Top Notch Tree Service. The tree service will likely be busy over the next few days and weeks because there was more damage across the county.
Just north of Lancaster, another barn had been destroyed. On the road leading to the barn, there was evidence of more strong winds, with broken branches and more trees down.
Adrienne Gastineau was at her house just across the road when the storm hit.
“About 3 o'clock it started the torrential rain and then 3:30, it all just hit the front of the house. We could hear things clashing I guess it actually we thought we had lost the front porch.”
“We were in the living room here and uh we could hear the stuff hitting so we started toward the bedroom to the closet that was gonna be a safe place.”
Daylight revealed that barn debris was what hit the porch. Their house also had a few front porch posts knocked out of place, and one piece of the roof lay on the ground with corner marks lining up with the wooden post still standing next to it.
Gastineau pointed to their shed, which had been destroyed. Wood and more debris scattered their field, with some planks sticking up out of the ground.
The barn had a tractor and a boat trapped inside, but Gastineau said she and her husband were okay.
The National Weather Service will have to evaluate both sites to determine whether the damages were caused by straight-line winds or a tornado.
