Severe storms packing 80 mph winds and tornados snapped utility poles, brought down trees and wires, and triggered outages affecting more than 120,000 electric cooperative members in Kentucky late Friday night. Kentucky officials report 19 confirmed deaths related to the storm, including 17 people in Laurel County and one each in Pulaski County and Russell County, where a woman reportedly died from carbon monoxide poisoning related to a generator. About a dozen others were hospitalized. All of those numbers are subject to change as search and rescue efforts continue.
After an engineering assessment, co-op employees were allowed to enter the offices on Sunday to retrieve materials essential for operations. With part of the roof blown off, daylight poured into the offices, with furniture and the floor covered with insulation and other debris.
In addition to dedicated crews at each co-op, mutual aid teams from fellow cooperatives in Kentucky and Georgia are assisting at the hardest hit co-ops.
Laurel County reels
The damage in Laurel County was widespread and deadly, with homes, businesses and churches destroyed. Most of the fatalities were in the Sunshine Hills subdivision outside London on Keavy Road in Laurel County.
Most of the remaining outages for Jackson Energy are in Laurel County. The co-op has an office in London. “Our crews are encountering extensive damage which slows restoration,” the co-op posted on Facebook.
