Thousands still without power in Woodford Co.

WOODFORD COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - More than 5,700 customers in Woodford County remain without power after Friday’s severe weather.

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City and county officials spent Monday touring damage and were able to speak to the Governor about some of their concerns and needs.

Those who travel this area heading to or from Frankfort through Versailles have been met with a new configuration as cones are set up in place diverting traffic, one in lane for each direction, as more than a handful of bucket trucks have been out all day trying to fix and repair the damage caused by Friday’s windstorm.

An EMT broke his leg in an ambulance crash Friday evening during severe weather. — An EMT broke his leg in an ambulance crash Friday evening during severe weather.(Woodford Co.)

Woodford County Judge Executive James Kay says it’s been a mess.

“We had all of our ambulances out, we had all of our police officers out, all of our sheriff’s deputies, all of our first responders, fire, our road crews were responding to multiple things throughout the night, throughout the weekend, so it has been a challenging time,” Kay said.

A tree fell on a Versailles Police cruiser along U.S. 62. The officer was okay but as an ambulance responded to that incident, a secondary crash occurred when the ambulance driver had to swerve to avoid another falling tree. The rig was totaled and an EMT ended up with a broken leg.

For several hours on Friday, their community and much of Kentucky was battered by strong winds.

“There’s a large swath of transmission lines and distribution lines down, that means the power that’s going in and the power that’s going out to residents both are down,” said Kay.

Ray Papka and several thousand other residents are waiting their turn to be reconnected to power. He says he’s thankful for the sunshine but knows the warm days are numbered as crews race to get everyone back online.

“I’ve been shut down before, but thankfully it was only for a day or two. I only got my generator last night from my son-in-law because I didn’t realize it was going to be this long without electricity,” said Papka.

Papka says he lost part of his barn roof, and sections of the power line still lay in his yard.

“I was looking out my window and saw that wire go down, and sparks were going all up and down the street and thought, oh my goodness, here it comes,” Papka said.

Papka says it may be Thursday before he gets the lights back on, and he misses his internet the most. But he’s grateful for his kind neighbors and those working to get everyone’s power fixed.

The temporary traffic pattern will likely be in place for the next few days until crews get everything fixed and back to normal.

The Versailles Kroger was shuttered for more than a day due to their power being out. It reopened Sunday with fewer products since some had spoiled or needed to be thrown out.

Woodford County Schools also announced that Tuesday would be a non-traditional instruction day for students.

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