Woman witnesses severe storm damage in Anderson County

ANDERSON COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - Historic buildings in downtown Lawrenceburg are blocked off after bricks and part of the roof was blown off during Friday’s powerful wind storm. No injuries were reported, but businesses in those buildings are closed until engineers survey them and make sure they are structurally sound.

One business owner said these buildings are easily 100 years old. His business is in one of these buildings and is closed right now.

One woman witnessed bricks fly across the street as those gusts turned Main Street into a wind tunnel.

Tonya Peace works at a restaurant across the street from where several buildings were damaged. The glass in their front door was blown out by the wind and debris.

“The bricks were just flying off the top of them buildings there and just flying across the road,” Peace said. “All the black paper stuff was flying across the road. It was a mess.”

Main Street was blocked until the debris could be moved, and the winds died down. Construction workers were making repairs Monday, and the sidewalk below is still blocked off.

“There was sheets of metal tin from the buildings flying in the parking lot,” Peace said.

An awning was also ripped off from the falling brick.

Peace said, thankfully, she didn’t see anybody outside when the debris fell.

“We’re just glad to be safe, glad to be open again,” Peace said.

Heavens to Betsy! is one of the businesses impacted. The owner says the inside is fine, but large wooden frames punctured his roof. He’s not sure when he will be able to reopen.

Anderson County Schools were closed Monday because of damage and power outages. They will be back in class on Tuesday.

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