2 tornadoes touched down in Shelby County, preliminary report shows

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The National Weather Service surveyed damage in Shelby County and suspect two EF-1 tornadoes touched down Wednesday night.

They assessed damage southeast of Shelbyville along Rockbridge Road, near Jeptha Creek, and believe one tornado produced winds of up to 90 mph. The second is believed to have hit in eastern Shelby County along Buzzard Roost Road, ending near Hwy 395.

(Story continues below photo)

Steven Jeffries said he took shelter in his kitchen in Rockbridge, getting in out of the rain. Ten minutes later he emerged to a shocking sight.

”I thought, man, when I looked at the barn,” Jeffries said, “and I thought that was it, then I looked down here and thought, good Lord. But I’m glad my house is still standing.”

Just a few yards from his front door, the Wednesday night storm dismantled one of his barns and smashed in the front of the other. Luckily, his family home of 52 years was untouched.

His farm was just one stop in the storm’s Wednesday night rampage across Shelby County. It left behind a path of downed power lines, uprooted trees and damaged buildings, but no injuries were reported.

”It certainly looks like we may have had some minor touchdowns,” Shelby County Judge Executive Dan Isen said, “but a lot of 70, 80 mile an hour straight line winds.”

Some of the worst damage was saved for the Buzzard Roost community. One of the largest barns in the county was left in pieces.

”Just like everybody says, it sounded like a train coming through,” Stephen Miller said. “We were in the basement. We could hear popping, cracking.”

Miller and his two children all built homes in Buzzard Roost. They all took a direct hit to trees and buildings, but their houses were not heavily damaged.

“Right here together and all three of us could have been homeless,” Miller’s daughter, Leslie Tucker, said. “So we are just very blessed that all of our homes are still up and we all still have each other.”

Copyright 2022 WAVE. All rights reserved.