Power outages from storm down to 7

As of 10:16 a.m. today (Aug. 14) power outages in Montgomery County were down to seven customers.

All of the customers are on KU. All Clark Energy outages had been restored.

According to poweroutage.us, more than 7,428 throughout Kentucky were without power at the time of this posting. 

For updates, visit https://poweroutage.us/

Emergency Management Director Greg Beam says the outage map is updated about every 10 minutes.

What follows below is a story that appeared in this week's Advocate regarding storm damage:

At least 22 percent of the county’s electric customers, 3,107 homes, were without power at some point Tuesday night in the aftermath of a thunderstorm that produced high winds that knocked down trees all over the county.

“There was no centralized location, it was all over the county,” Emergency Management Director Greg Beam said.

A power outage was reported Tuesday night at Northview Elementary School, but power was restored in time for the first day of school Wednesday morning, he said.

The Maysville Community and Technical College Montgomery campus was closed Wednesday due to a power outage.

Pockets of locations throughout the county had power outages, Beam said.

He said the fire dept. was called out numerous times overnight to reports of arcing power lines caused by the storm.

The high winds were so intense at one point that it took out the large Ford sign at Dutch’s. 

On Richmond Avenue, a power pole snapped and had to replaced. The area was blocked off to traffic.

The city of Mt. Sterling shared on social media Wednesday that Richmond Avenue (from Spring Street to West Locust) remained closed to thru vehicle traffic. Reffit Alley was also closed. The post noted that Public Works was out cleaning up storm debris and that several streets were still without power.

During the weather incident, Police Chief Aaron Noel said an oversize load with a scrapped car came through Levee near the Bypass and clipped a thick fiber utility line that snapped and struck a patrol car belonging to Sgt. Casey Browning.

Noel said Browning could have been seriously injured had he been out of his vehicle. 

A minivan also was damaged in the incident, Noel said.

He said the power outages on the north end knocked out traffic signals, turning them into four-way stops.

The dept. reported problems with motorists attempting to go around barricades and driving around to observe the damage.

Noel said this hinders police response to other calls and cleanup efforts.

The city provided the public updates on social media throughout the storm. The city shared how residents could track power outage status and noted at one point Tuesday evening Public Works was clearing an obstruction at Jackson Place. An earlier post said that KU and Public Works teams were working on downed trees and power outages on Rogers Avenue and Richmond Avenue.

The public was encouraged to report obstructions to Emergency Dispatch and to shelter in place and stay off roadways to allow responders to address issues. In it’s initial post, the city cautioned that it was aware of multiple locations where trees were down. 

In a post Wednesday morning, the city said if city residents have tree limbs and debris in their yards, to cut them in pieces no longer than five feet in length and stack near the curb. A pick-up plan will be announced as soon as possible.

Sheriff David Charles said there were trees down throughout the county and a few minor accidents but most people exercised caution during the storm.

Teams of road dept. employees and volunteers helped clear roads overnight, Charles said.

He said he was encouraged by the sight of neighbors helping neighbors.

“People still help people in our community,” Charles said. “That’s a wonderful thing.”

The sheriff shared in an initial social media post Tuesday evening that several roads had trees, lines and debris and to postpone travel to assist crews in cleanup. The sheriff later noted that almost all trees and utility poles were cleared with a few secondary areas closed.

Beam said the city, state and county road dept.’s did a great job cleaning up the debris overnight and will be out the  rest of the week dealing with debris caused by the storm.

A flood watch remained in effect until late Wednesday evening as additional rainfall was expected.