Wednesday, January 05, 2000
Tornado damage heavy, not deadly
Owensboro tallies its losses
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Amy and Scott Bidwell carry belongings from their apartment at Wesleyan Village.
(Michael E. Keating photos)
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OWENSBORO, Ky. — A digital time-and-temperature sign stood frozen at 65 degrees Tuesday, a reminder of the balmy temperature a day earlier when a tornado ripped through this city, toppling trees and utility poles, smashing cars and damaging hundreds of homes and dozens of businesses.
On Frederica Street, the city's main thoroughfare, emergency crews battled wind-blown snow and temperatures in the 30s to remove trees from the roads and begin restoring electricity to 5,000 customers still without power late Tuesday.
Officials said it may be a week before all electricity is restored.
The miracle of this storm, amid the sea of devastation, is that only a dozen people were treated for minor injuries at local hospitals.
“I thought they'd be pulling bodies out.” said Darrell Day, a deputy coroner.
About 54,000 people live in Owensboro. Monday's tornado damaged 35 businesses and 750 homes — 200 to 300 severely damaged and about 50 destroyed. Especially hard hit was the campus of Kentucky Wesleyan College, where all 12 of its buildings sustained some damage.
An aerial tour of the city Tuesday morning gave city officials a glimpse of the storm's fury.
“We've got much greater damage than we believed last night,” City Manager Ron Payne said at a news conference.
Cars were piled atop each other and wrapped around trees behind Wesleyan Park Plaza, a main shopping center in the city's hardest-hit area. At a nearby McDonald's, em ployees collected debris as men in a cherry picker helped ease down the broken golden arches.
Amid overturned cars, John Williams points at the path of Monday's tornado.
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At the Wesleyan Village apartments, where the storm ripped off roofs and collapsed walls, families scrambled to salvage anything left before it got too cold or landlords made them leave.
Chris Niles, 13, was returning from vacation in Florida with his family when a call to their cellular phone told what awaited them in the apartments.
“We got here and our house was gone,” he said as he helped his family carry away what was left of their belongings.
A state of emergency was continued indefinitely in Owensboro and Daviess County, though a citywide curfew ended at 6 a.m. Tuesday. A small amount of looting was reported after the storm, Mr. Payne said.
The emergency declaration allows for quicker decisions about law enforcement, utilities and other vital services.
In nearby Crittenden County, as many as 100 homes were damaged. A state of emergency also was declared, and 30 National Guard troops were sent to the Crayne community. Damage also was reported in Webster County.
At Kentucky Wesleyan, the president's house was heavily damaged and may have to be razed, college President Wesley H. Poling said. The entire roof either blew off or collapsed onto the second floor of the home.
About half of the roof was gone from the building that houses the college's library and cafeteria. Without a kitchen, it was unlikely that classes will resume Monday as scheduled, Mr. Poling said.
Two dormitories sustained heavy damage. About 330 of the 740 students enrolled during the fall semester lived on campus, said Don Hines, vice president for development at Kentucky Wesleyan.
At the Wesleyan Village Apartments, Amy Bidwell, a nail technician, joked about a clean spot on the carpet and wondered out loud whether that would be enough to get her deposit back.
As she leaned out of what was left of the second-floor balcony window, snow and debris fell into the dark blue paint at the bottom of the swimming pool.
“I don't know if I could absorb a whole lot more today,” she said. “I think I need a cocktail.”
On the other side of the city, Tracy Weber, 39, said he still didn't have any power but damage to his house was minimal. He was a few streets over helping friends with their home.
“Yesterday during the day it was like it was July or September,” he said Tuesday. “You know how the sky always gets the weird shades and the strange feeling in the air.”
Mr. Weber heard a radio report saying a tornado was expected about 4 p.m.
“I looked at my watch and it was 10 'til,” he said. “I screamed around the corner and got into the house.”
Mr. Weber said he was going to try to stay in his house and keep warm by the fireplace.
“My babies are safe, my wife is safe, my dog and my cat are safe,” he said. “And I'm mobile. I'm going to give up worrying about it and go on.”
Others weren't so calm.
Barbara Montgomery, 53, stood in the middle of the street with her daughter. A day before, she had been alone when the twister arrived.
“The man across the street saved my life,” she said. “He ... knocked on the door and said, "Honey, it's coming. You better get in the bathroom.'”
She took his advice.
“I was there in the bathroom screaming at God, "Make it stop. Make it go away. Make it stop,'” she said. “I think that's the most frightened I've ever been in my whole life.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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