FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Governor Andy Beshear believes that a lot of progress is expected to be made on power restoration on Monday.
"We believe that a lot of people will get power today," said Gov. Beshear.
The governor explained that crews initially focused on safety, but the focus has now shifted to power restoration.
"A whole lot of downed lines. Some of them still charged. A whole lot of poles that were down. So, our utility crews focused primarily on Saturday on making everything safe," said Beshear. "We've lost 5 Kentuckians. We didn't want to lose anymore."
Gov. Beshear said as of Monday morning, almost 125,000 homes and businesses across the state were still without power. He explained that the widespread damage is a challenge.
"There is just that much damage. And it's kind of hard to conceptualize because it wasn't one huge tornado that went through and when you looked at it, you would say of course it's going to take this amount of time," he said. "It was a very widespread storm - with wind, much more than the thunderstorm, itself that knocked down so many of these utility poles."
The governor said he also expects Kentucky to qualify for a federal disaster declaration on the public assistance side. As far as federal help goes for individuals, that's yet to be determined.
Gov. Beshear declared a state of emergency on Friday morning. Since then, 64 counties and 19 cities have declared emergencies as well.
