High Winds Play Havoc in Burkesville
Deep in the night of March 4, and far into the dark morning of March 5, then damage from the high winds was most evident in downtown Burkesville. PHOTO | Greg Wells
By Greg Wells
CCN – Editor
It seems like a week has not passed since a windstorm or flood hasn’t been on the front of the Cumberland County news, and this week is no difference.
High winds hit Cumberland County generally after sunset last Tuesday night doing damage to trees around the county.
County Emergency Management Director Greg Cary said it was 10:23pm when Cumberland County Emergency Dispatch put out the call for assistance on the south end of Burkesville Square.
County Attorney Coleman Hurt confirmed that the high winds ripped the roof from the County Attorney’s building, the old hotel on the Square, and hurled it across the street.
County Attorney Coleman Hurt on top of the building, and county Emergency Management Director Greg Cary, with the big yellow pole, worked together to pull some of the roofing material back onto the old hotel in downtown Burkesville last Tuesday morning. The effort was not just clean up but preventing dislodged metal from being a danger to people walking downtown. PHOTO | Greg Wells
He said the roof on his building was completely gone. With even the underlayment removed at one area.
“You can look up and see the sky,” Hurt said.
The Poindexter law office at the corner of S. Main St. and Courthouse Square was the main recipient of that roof. Along with tearing down electric and other lines, the material wrapped around Poindexter’s building causing damage to the roof. While other parts of the roof impacted the front of Tucker Mercantile.
Liza Tucker said their security cameras caught only the explosion of glass as roofing materials struck one of the buildings’ front windows.
Work is continuing this week with the cleanup and repairs. Hurt said he has talked with his insurance, and they are seeking bids for replacement of the historic buildings roof, and there have been discussions with others regarding their damage.
Cary said cleanup would not have been possible without the assistance of Tri-County electric and Kentucky transportation cabinet workers.
Work crews from the Tri-County electric cooperative used their trucks to remove damage from the southern end of the square in Burkesville late in the night. They had to remove the metal roofing before they could reattach electric lines that had been damaged. The high winds knocked down branches and trees around the county, resulting in 888 buildings without power for a time during the night, March 4. PHOTO | Greg Wells
“Tri-County was down here and lifting off all that roofing from Poindexter’s and the power poles, “Cary said. “And the State crew were down here with a loader and dump trucks picking that up and hauling it off to clear the street.”
He said he is also keeping an eye on not just the creeks this week, but also the river. He explained that high discharge from Wolf Creek Dam, to keep pressure off the repaired dam by Lake Cumberland’s high water, can raise river levels to the point it backs up creeks in the county blocking some people’s access to and from their homes.
