Corridor 9

Madisonville, Earlington, and Grapevine were among the hardest hit areas in western Kentucky during the tornado yesterday around 4 pm. I was on shift at Madisonville Fire Department at the time and witnessed the destruction and devastation caused by this tornado first hand. Around 3:45 pm, most of us were watching the meteorologists on News 14 and News 25 closely as we there were reports of possible touchdowns off to the south-west of the Madisonville area. We were advised that the storm center was heading straight for us and to seek shelter. Seeing as how we knew this was going to be bad, we went downstairs and got suited up in our turnout gear prior to the first alarm.

As we were standing downstairs in the engine bay the fire station began to shake for a brief period of time, and we were able to witness the tornado passing us on the south side approximately 2 miles away. You could just barely hear the thunderous roar and see debris flying through the air.

Our first alarm was for a 10-46 (accident with injuries) on South Main Street about 100 yards south of the entrance to the country club. The call came in as a tornado vs. car, and upon arriving it was clear that the tornado had won. The vehicle, which appeared to be a Ford Taurus, was severely damaged with one occupant still inside. The roof had been crushed in to the point there was only 4-6 inches of space where the windows would normally have been. We were able to extricate the patient from the vehicle after removing the roof, and he was transported code 3 to Regional Medical Center.

After being cleared from the accident we were directed out toward Meadowlark Lane to do a house to house search for trapped victims and patients needing medical attention. Upon arrival we found that the tornado had damaged multiple houses, and had created a HAZMAT incident after destroying a gasoline holding facility. We performed a house to house search starting from Meadowlark and working our way around to Cathlyn Drive. Upon completing the search I was stationed at the intersection of Cathlyn and 70 as part of a security checkpoint to keep everyone but residents out of the neighborhood.

After about an hour, Incident Command directed my truck to respond back to the Country Club area to perform a ground search for victims that may have been scattered on the golf course by the twister. Along with 13 other people from various emergency agencies, we swept the entire 1/2 mile path created by the tornado from Main Street back to the north east side of Country Club Lane. The trees were scattered in such a way that just reaching some of the houses was a challenge. Imagine climbing through a 100 yard jungle gym made of downed trees, power lines, sections of fence, and debris from houses, and you may can imagine a fraction of the devastation caused.

To my knowledge there has only been 1 casualty, a handful of critically injured people, and around 30 people treated for minor injuries at RMC. This information may have already changed by the time this is posted, but this was the most recent information at the time.

Some of the pictures I shot this morning can be found in the Madisonville Tornado Gallery

UPDATE: The report of a casualty during this storm is apparently wrong.