LONDON, Ky. (KT) — A path of downed trees in rural Laurel County signaled where a deadly tornado likely began a path of destruction last Friday night (May 16).
The EF3 twister toppled trees, lifted rooftops, and moved a double-wide trailer approximately 10-15 feet from its foundation along KY 192, where it is believed the twister’s path toward London began after making a stop in neighboring Pulaski County.
“It was very calm before everything happened, minimal rainfall and a lot of lightning,” a resident said. “Then after we got alerted on our cell phones, and I got a call from a family member that we were in the path, we left the mobile home and went next door to the other structure and hunkered down in there with family.”
After the family escaped, the double-wide then “went vertical in the air and landed off the foundation forward.”
“It was a total loss — like a car wreck. The frame and all of the electrical (wires) and everything were ripped out of the bottom when it floated in the air. Then we lost two barns. One of them was there, and it went up in the sky and never came down. The roof structure on the metal shop also went up in the air and never came back.”
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief teams were busy sawing trees and clearing debris from areas affected by the deadly twister that claimed 17 lives last Friday. In one location on Sara Lane, where volunteers were stationed on Tuesday, the tornado created a hit-and-miss path through Laurel Canyon subdivision. Robert Hoskins and his wife were in Lexington at the time of the storm, but were alerted when their home alarms went off that night.
“I thought there was probably a lightning strike,” Hoskins said. “One of our friends drove over to look at the house, and my wife started driving from Lexington to come and look at the house. And our friend called and said there was no way of getting there. She came back. We stayed in Lexington. … We had most of the trees for the whole subdivision here in this area, and they’re just about gone. There was a little wooded area, and about 90 percent of the trees are on the ground now.”
Homeowners nearby weren’t as fortunate and suffered extensive damage near Hoskins’ residence.
“The back of the house is mostly glass, and none of it was broken,” Hoskins said. “We’ve got two windows pushed in. They weren’t broke, and then the back windows weren’t broke — pretty amazing.”
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief volunteer Mike Bastin was also amazed by the path of hit-and-miss destruction in the region.
“It’s amazing how this much damage can be done nearby, then (Hoskins) only lost a couple of shingles,” Bastin said. “The house right behind him is gone completely. It’s just crazy how these things work. But, you know, we don’t have answers, but we do have hope, and that’s what we’re here to offer.
“Our motto is that we bring help, hope and healing. We try to be the hands of Jesus, and that’s why we go. I tell people, ‘Hey, we’ll, we’ll cut up the wood to get to your heart.’’’
This article originally appeared in Kentucky Today.
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