Weather service confirms two tornadoes struck county Wednesday

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Friday, Feb. 8, 2008, 11:59 a.m. -- The National Weather Service confirmed yesterday that two tornadoes touched down in Nelson County during Wednesday early-morning storms.

The first tornado occurred touched down west of Double Springs Road just off Woodlawn Road not far from American Drive. The tornado first struck and destroyed a shop building at Hidden Hollow Construction Co. before hitting a mobile home about 500 yards downwind.

The weather service classified the storm as a class EF-2 tornado, which pack winds as high as 125 mph. The tornado was on the ground for about two minutes, leaving a path of destruction a mile long and 300 yards wide.

Four people were inside the mobile home when it was knocked off its foundation, rolled over and destroyed. Two of the trailer's four occupants were injured; one suffered a broken arm and the second was treated for abrasions. Nelson County EMS transported one of the patients, the other was taken to the hospital by private vehicle.

Two cars next to the home were severely damaged when the trailer rolled over on top of them. A number of trees along the storm's path were snapped off and uprooted.

The second storm included both tornadic and straight-line wind damage along a path south of the Blue Grass Parkway that began first near 6130 Nelsonville Road, where straight-line winds destroyed a barn on Nelsonville Loop and partly destroyed a silo.

Continuing east toward Patton Road, a number of trees were uprooted by strong straight-line winds. North of where these trees were downed, the weather service said a class EF-1 tornado uprooted and sheared off a large concentration of trees. EF-1 tornados have winds of about 100 mph.

Further east along the storms path in the Botland area, a home at 1900 Manton Road had a large section of its roof blown off. An outbuilding was heavily damaged and shingled blown off the home next door. The damage was consistent with straight-line winds of about 100 mph.

Just past this wind damage, the weather service found additional evidence that a class EF-1 tornado had touched down. The tornado left a path of damage a mile long and 200 yards wide.

The National Weather Service issued a rare multi-county tornado warning at 12:28 a.m. for eastern Hardin, southeastern Jefferson, western Spencer and all of LaRue and Nelson counties. Measured straight-line wind speeds topped 80 miles per hour here in Nelson County.

ADDITIONAL: Click here for visit the National Weather Service's Web page about the Nelson County storms.