Meade County residents describe close call with tornado

MEADE COUNTY, Ky. (WAVE) - When destructive storms rolled through Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service (NWS) determined Meade County was hit with both destructive straight-line winds and an EF-1 tornado.

One longtime resident near Joe Prather Highway saw the tornado come too close for comfort.

Kathleen Powell lost her parents on April 3, 1974 when a historic tornado outbreak hit Brandenburg.

Now 49 years later, another tornado brings destruction to her doorstep at the house she’s lived in since 1953.

“I’m sitting in my chair, and I looked out the window and said, ‘There goes the old garage,’” Powell said.

Powell was at home with her daughter and granddaughter when the tornado ripped up towering cedar trees lining her driveway.

“But it was all over within that quick a time,” Powell said. “It took down all the lane of cedars, and then my precious old pecan tree here. It just demolished it.”

The massive pecan tree came crashing down just feet away from her house. Powell was unharmed, her house was not damaged. The structure withstood winds reaching 110 miles per hour.

The tornado quickly continued across Joe Prather Highway to Cedar Line Road where a cul-de-sac of houses took damage.

“I have never seen the wind that strong before,” resident Robbin Deener said. “You couldn’t really see. The wind was so strong and the rain was coming down so heavily, you couldn’t even see.”

Outdoor furniture, fencing and a trampoline all became airborne in the wind.

Several houses suffered roof and siding damage. Multiple trees were broken or uprooted.

However, no one was hurt.

NWS determined the tornado was on the ground in Meade County for only a minute.

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