The National Weather Service in Paducah says hurricane-force wind gusts from a powerful line of thunderstorms caused widespread damage across Wayne and White counties early Monday, toppling large trees, breaking utility poles, and knocking out power to hundreds of residents.
The strongest storm moved through the area at approximately 4:20 a.m., producing wind gusts of 80 mph—the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane.
Wayne-White Electric Cooperative officials said the storm brought down 15 power poles, with the most significant damage occurring in the Boyleston area. Additional damage was reported south of Wayne City and north of Norris City.
At the peak of the outage, approximately 350 Wayne-White Electric customers lost power. Utility crews restored service throughout the morning, reducing the number of outages to fewer than 100 customers by 9 a.m.
An earlier round of storms that moved through the region shortly before 1 a.m. also caused scattered damage.
No injuries have been reported.
Wayne County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Jake is asking residents whose homes sustained major storm damage and are no longer safe to occupy to contact the Wayne County EMA Office at 618-842-3884 and leave a message. The agency will work with the American Red Cross to provide emergency assistance to qualifying homeowners whose residences have been rendered uninhabitable.