April 3 (UPI) — Three tornadoes and straight-line winds devastated multiple areas across Kentucky Tuesday, caused a deadly auto accident and triggered a state of emergency declaration.
The National Weather Service confirmed three tornadoes touched down as turbulent weather swept through the commonwealth Tuesday. Affected areas included Nelson, Anderson and Jessamine counties, the Louisville Courier Journal reported.
The NWS said three EF-1 tornadoes touched down with wind speeds of up to 105 mph and were accompanied by straight line winds of equal power.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency and planned to tour storm-ravaged parts of the state, including a stop in Prospect, which is located along the southern bank of the Ohio River about 12 miles northeast of Louisville, local media reported.
The storms uprooted trees, downed power poles and tore roofs off of buildings. The storms also scattered debris along roadways and caused a deadly accident in Campbell County, which is located south of Cincinnati and the Ohio River in Kentucky.
No other major injuries were reported, ABC News reported.
The storms pummeled parts of Kentucky throughout the day but worsened in the late afternoon.
The weather quickly changed from warm and sunny to “suddenly pitch black and debris flying,” Anchorage Middletown, Ky., Fire and EMS spokesperson Jordan Yuodis told ABC News.
Yuodis said local EMS officials sounded emergency warning sirens at about 5:15 p.m., and people started calling 911 for help soon afterward. People were trapped inside damaged homes, roads were shut down and roofs were torn from some buildings.
Timely severe weather warnings from the NWS and local meteorologists helped prevent injuries and fatalities, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told ABC News.
The line of storms continued moving eastward on Wednesday and stretched from Florida to New Jersey.