Rebuilding Russellville, Logan County hit hard with severe weather

LOGAN COUNTY, Ky. –  After Sunday’s storms, Logan County was riddled with storm damage, though no injuries reported.

News 40 visited Russellville, Kentucky, which reported a large amount of damage after storms hit on May 26, including uprooted trees and downed lines. Damage could be seen just after crossing the county line coming from Warren to Logan on Highway 68.

Phil Baker, the Logan County judge-executive, said Logan County was extremely blessed.

“We’ve declared Logan County an emergency disaster, the damage is count- wide, and we’ll be reaching out to the state to help with clean up,” said the judge in an interview.

News 40 also spoke to mayor of Russellville, Mark Stratton, who also said, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just stuff. It can be replaced…” while standing in front of a severely damaged joint City Hall and police department.

Stratton said both roofs were torn off in the storm, giving way for water to flood the entire building.

News 40 also met one Russellville man who works in landscaping, who had been working since Sunday’s first round of storms. He said he ironically had two trees fall on his own property.

Drake York, who works for McCarley Environmental, said he was home when the giant tree in his front yard fell, barely missing his house. McCarley said he walked outside to scope out the scene after the weather died down, and that’s when he was met with the 100-year-old tree. He said he expects to be working for the next week on tree removal for the city, saying the entirety of Russellville needs help.

As far as power is concerned, Pennyrile Electric and Russellville Electric Plant Board have made good progress. This afternoon, out of their nine counties that they service, 15,440 Pennyrile customers are without power with 2,500 of those being in Logan County. REPB reported only 901 of out their 4,300 customers are without power today.