Friday, January 07, 2000
Tornado destroyed or damaged 2,277 homes
Owensboro works to restore power
The Associated Press
OWENSBORO, Ky. — Randall Goatee stood with his chain saw Thursday outside what used to be a house, preparing to transform a nearby storm-damaged tree into kindling.
One of the few rooms left standing was the kitchen, its matching white appliances exposed to the elements. Furniture was everywhere. A garage behind the house had collapsed onto a car.
Mr. Goatee, a volunteer with the massive, post-tornado cleanup effort in this Ohio River city, shook his head as he looked across the street toward homes that had been spared a similar fate.
“It's unbelievable how this home here is totally gone while this house here and this one next to it were hardly touched,” said Mr. Goatee, the owner of a McLean County construction company.
The homes are in the Tamarack Park subdivision on Owensboro's far southwest side. The neighborhood was among the hardest-hit by Monday's tornado, which sent 15 people to the hospital and damaged or destroyed more than 2,200 homes.
Three people remained at Owensboro Mercy Health System, said Col lette Carter, a hospital spokeswoman. Two were in satisfactory condition and one was in good condition.
Bob Carper, director of Owensboro Municipal Utilities, said power had been restored to about half of the utility's 8,000 customers who lost their electricity. Two hundred OMU workers and contractors were making repairs, and the utility's own business office was on generator power.
Most customers will have power restored by Sunday and the rest by early next week, he said. The work will cost the utility about $2 million.
About 500 customers of Western Kentucky Gas Co. remained without service, said Kevin Dobbs, operations manager. Service had been restored for 95 customers.
According to the latest revised figures from the city, 101 homes were destroyed by the tornado, 573 had major damage and 1,603 received minor damage — a total of 2,277 affected residences.
Those figures were likely to increase, City Manager Ron Payne said. About 35 businesses were damaged.
Roger Snell, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Insurance, said adjusters and agents were assessing the damage. One carrier that insures Kentucky Wesleyan College and the Owensboro and Daviess County public school districts reported $11 million worth of damage so far, he said.
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Tornado destroyed or damaged 2,277 homes
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