ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — Waves of strong storms ripped roofs off homes, apartment buildings and a bank and destroyed several buildings in north-central Kentucky, but few injuries and no deaths have been reported in the state, Kentucky State Police said Wednesday.
Three buildings belonging to a trucking company were heavily damaged, but the employee on duty at the time escaped unharmed, said Jim Owen, son of the owner of Harry Owen Trucking. Three trailers parked in a lot outside were pushed into each other, toppled like dominoes.
"It picked the whole building up," Jim Owen said. "It would take a group of 20 men five days with equipment to tear that down."
The National Weather Service said it was looking into whether it was a possible tornado.
State police were going door-to-door in the area, checking on residents in areas where roofs had been lifted off houses and mobile homes, said Master Trooper Norman Chaffins, public information officer for the state police in Elizabethtown.
"Most of the damage we're seeing is to mobile homes," Chaffins said. The area hit is about 45 miles southwest of Louisville.
The National Weather Service said it was also investigating reports of a funnel cloud spotted in nearby Hodgenville, which is home to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park.
Police reported power lines down and flash flooding that closed several local roads.
Tornado watches and warnings continued to march eastward across Kentucky from a storm system that is blamed for several deaths in Missouri and Illinois.
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Branson damaged by storm
Severe storms swept the midwest overnight Tuesday, causing some deaths and damaging the tourist town of Branson.