Live updates: Power restoration across Kentucky will be ‘multi-day’ process, companies say

Editor’s note: This story is no longer being updated. For the latest information on Kentucky’s windstorm, click here for our most recent story.

Kentuckians woke up Saturday morning to power outages, downed trees and damage to their homes.

Five people have been confirmed dead, including one person in Fayette County.

As of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, more than 355,000 Kentucky power customers were in the dark as the storm, with winds clocking more than 70 miles per hour in some places, tore through the state’s power grid.

“When it comes to power, this is going to be a multi-day event,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news conference Saturday morning.

Restoring power, he said, “may take some time. This is very significant widespread damage throughout Kentucky.”

In addition to the state of emergency Beshear declared Friday, 37 counties and 11 cities have said they will declare states of emergency because of the windstorm, he said.

He said a handful of the state’s water systems are also struggling because of problems caused by a lack of power, which has led to boil water advisories being issued for more than 1,800 people. The timing of power restoration will help determine how much of a problem water will be, he said.

Beshear said Transportation Cabinet and Division of Forestry crews, along with one National Guard team have been deployed to help clear roads of downed trees.

“It is still dangerous,” he said.

State officials urged people to stay away from downed lines, avoid using electrical generators indoors, watch out around leaning trees and avoid driving through water.

In addition to the 41-year-old woman who died in Lexington, those who died in the storm also included: a 23-year-old man in Edmonson County; a 63-year-old man in Logan County; an 84-year-old man in Bath County; and a 68-year-old man in Simpson County.

Though the storm “caused very significant damage,” Beshear said it is “nothing like what we saw in the December 2021 storms.”

He said there had not been reports of large numbers of displaced people.

Beshear said Western and Central Kentucky took the brunt of the storm, and “Eastern Kentucky fared a lot better than was expected in the original models.”

In Fayette County, winds were clocked at 72.4 mph, while Breckinridge County had wind speeds measuring 75 mph.

Kentucky Utilities: 10 Lexington schools among those without power

As of late Saturday afternoon, Kentucky Utilities spokesman Daniel Lowry said 45,000 electric customers in Lexington, including 10 schools, were without power.

He said KU and LG&E had 1,700 downed power lines across the system as a result of the windstorm, and it was hoped that a “global estimated time of restoration” would be available Sunday or Monday.

“Our crews are busy just trying to protect and assess the damage,” he said at a news conference with Lexington officials.

He said crews respond first to calls about threats to safety. After that, he said, the power company prioritizes restoring power to critical infrastructure such as hospitals and nursing homes.

“Then we try to get the most bang for our buck as far as customers,” Lowry said.

Lowry hearkened back to ice storms like the one in 2009 that left much of the city without power for a week or more.

“We hope that’s not going to be the case this time, but this storm is in that realm,” he said.

Lowry said hundreds of KU employees are working around the clock to restore power, and resources from other states are being brought in as well.

Lexington damage estimates ‘in the millions of dollars’

“Damage city-wide is estimated in the millions of dollars,” Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said at a news conference late Saturday afternoon.

Representatives of Lexington’s police and fire departments said each agency responded to about 300 weather-related calls Friday night and into Saturday, and the city was still dealing with about 15 blocked roads and 20 dark intersections late Saturday afternoon.

Lexington Fire Chief Jason Wells urged people to check the electrical equipment on the outside of their homes for storm damage. He said sometimes when power is restored, there can be an increased likelihood of a fire if the service drop is damaged. Anyone who sees damage should call an electrician for repairs.

Lexington residents without power who have medical devices requiring electricity can call 311 to get help, city officials said.

Lexington residents have option for tree limb disposal

Gorton said the former Old Frankfort Pike Landfill will be open throughout the coming week for residents to drop off storm debris.

The former landfill at 1631 Old Frankfort Pike will be open and accepting trees and yard waste until 4 p.m. Saturday and between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Mar. 5-10, the city said in a news release. Gorton said the city will extend the availability past Friday if needed.

Disposal is free, but a Fayette County driver’s license or other proof of Fayette County residence is required, the city said.

The debris will be recycled into mulch.

Estimates for power restoration may not be available until Sunday

In Fayette County alone, more than 49,000 customers were without power as of 3:30 p.m., according to one power outage tracker. That’s more than 30% of all Fayette County power customers.

The vast majority of those without power were Kentucky Utilities customers.

KU has not given an estimate on when power will be restored. Much of the power outages in Fayette County are concentrated on the city’s south side, according to KU power outage maps.

Lowry, the KU spokesman, told the Herald-Leader Saturday morning that the outages were widespread across the entire KU and LGE system. Lowry said more than 1,100 crews from nearby states are arriving Saturday to help restore power to more than 190,000 KU and LGE customers without power.

“It is one of the most significant events for our power system of the past 20 years,” Lowry said.

Lowry said KU and LGE hope to have estimates on Sunday for when power will be restored.

“This is going to be a multi-day event,” Lowry said of power restoration efforts. Given the widespread outages, an estimate on power restoration was tricky on Saturday, he said.

“KU alone serves 77 counties and we had outages across that entire system,” he said.

Other power companies warned that it will likely take several days for power to be restored.

Kentucky Power, which serves a large part of Eastern Kentucky, said more than 15,000 customers, mostly concentrated in Boyd, Carter, Floyd and Greenup counties are still without power.

“This will be a multi-day restoration event most likely extending into next week,” according to a written release.

Gov. Andy Beshear said damage assessments statewide are ongoing.

“Our teams are doing damage assessments across the state, and we will continue to keep everyone updated as information is available. Thank you to everyone out there helping. We are in this together,” Beshear said in a tweet.

Lexington police urge caution with travel

Lexington police said numerous traffic lights remain out and some roads were blocked by downed trees throughout the city Saturday morning.

“We are deploying cars with inverters to power up intersections,” Lt. Joe Anderson said. “We’re still just identifying the major ones.”

He said the city is experiencing high traffic volumes and asked people “if at all possible, just remain in their homes. ... If they do have to drive, drive with due caution.”

A large tree was blocking outbound Richmond Road at the Henry Clay Estate as of about 2:30 p.m.

The Lexington Fire Department said crews were still responding to calls falling wires, cleanup and smoke detectors going off Saturday morning.

A structure fire caused by a tree falling on a home’s electrical service line on Courtney Avenue left the home with moderate damage at about 8 p.m. Friday, a fire spokesman said. No one was injured.

Battalion Chief Jessica Bowman said the windstorm taxed the fire department’s resources Friday night, even as smaller teams than usual were sent out to conduct investigations in some instances and brought in reserve and utility vehicles such as brush trucks and hazmat vehicles.

“There were times when no units were available to respond despite staffing reserve apparatus,” she said in an email. “Mounting effective response forces for structure fires took time as units were responding literally from one end of the county to another and often had to divert routes due to debris, fallen trees or lines down. A triage system was initiated by E911 dispatchers call takers and assisted by FD staff but the sheer volume of calls taxed our personnel and technology leaving us to respond to most urgent and emergent calls first.”

City wants damage reports for disaster aid

The city of Lexington is asking homeowners and businesses to report damage to city officials so the city can apply for disaster assistance.

The information will be used to determine total property damage from these storms in Fayette County.

This is not to get reimbursement for storm damage. The information helps the city apply for assistance if and when assistance becomes available, city officials said.

Reports will only be taken using an online form. Paper reports, emails or social media reports cannot be accepted.

Please use this link to access the damage report: https://www.crisistrack.com/public/fayetteKY/request.html

All Lexington libraries are also closed Saturday due to power outages, according to a tweet from Lexington Public Library.

Blue Grass Airport reopens

Blue Grass Airport, which had to close Friday evening due to power outages and high winds, reopened Saturday morning.

“Flights are resuming, but please check your flight status by contacting your airline, especially if you have an early morning flight,” according to its Twitter feed.

Other public buildings remained closed.

The Lexington Public Library closed all locations Saturday due to power outages in many of its buildings.

The Lexington Parks and Recreation Department said there were downed trees and power lines in parks across the city and urged residents to use caution when visiting.

The city said the Gay Brewer Jr. Golf Course at Picadome would be closed all weekend, and Kearney Hill Golf Links would be closed until power returns. Lakeside and Tates Creek golf courses are open for “walking only” this weekend. While trails at Raven Run Nature Sanctuary were open, the city said the nature center and bathrooms were closed Saturday because of a power outage.

Pedestrian bridge at UK closed; UK Turfland also closed

A pedestrian bridge that crosses South Limestone from parking garage #5 on the University of Kentucky campus was closed Saturday after high winds knocked out glass windows that line the bridge.

Workers were fixing the popular pedestrian bridge on Saturday morning.

UK’s Turfland Clinic was also closed Saturday due to power outages at the campus off of Harrodsburg Road.

In-person, urgent care appointments that would typically take place at UK Urgent Care Clinic at Turfland will be moved to UK HealthCare Fountain Court Urgent Care, UK Healthcare officials said.

UK Healthcare Fountain Court is located at 245 Fountain Court, Suite 120, Lexington, , 40509.

The Fountain Court urgent care clinic will be open with expanded hours today only, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Catch up

In case you missed it overnight, catch up what to know about the storm and damage:

• Who has power? See the latest outages from Kentucky Utilities, Blue Grass Energy and more

• ‘Famous’ 300-year-old bur oak was saved from development. Windstorm knocked it down.

• Coroner releases name of woman who died after wind blew tree onto vehicle in Lexington

• Winds ‘approaching hurricane force’ are blowing across Kentucky. What to know