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By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
This coming weekend may stir troublesome memories for some Barren County residents in addition to many in Warren and other counties farther west, as it’s the first anniversary of a deadly tornado outbreak in the region.
No injuries or deaths from the storm occurred in Barren County, but some here did have significant damage to their homes, businesses, barns and/or other outbuildings.
This portion of a National Weather Service – Louisville map available on the agency’s website shows the path of a Dec. 11, 2021, EF2 tornado across northwestern Barren County. According to the NWS, the path began at Rocky Hill in Edmonson County and ended at Horse Cave in Hart County.
Tracy Shirley, director of Glasgow-Barren County Emergency Management, said that based on in the information he gathered, the tally was five dwellings destroyed, 14 with major damage, 36 with minor damage (still habitable) and five others affected. Individuals from “approximately five families” were sheltered in locations other than their residence as a result of the damage. He said any damage to businesses fell under a different classification and was not included in the reports he had.
Shirley said the last report he received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was in April, regarding the Dec. 10-11, 2021, tornado that went through the northwest tip of Barren County, had a spreadsheet attached that showed a breakdown of funds used to cover repairs, rentals and other needs. Thirty-four claims were eligible – out of 133 referrals — for the Individuals and Households Program, and the total spent from that program for this county was $104,521.13. For the Housing Assistance Program, 26 out of 128 referrals were eligible, with a total of $76,992.11 disbursed for Barren Countians, the spreadsheet showed.
In addition, $53,712.11 was paid by FEMA for 15 repair jobs; $23,280 was paid for 18 rentals; and $27,529.02 was paid in the category of Other Needs Assistance, according to the spreadsheet.
Shirley said that early the morning of Dec. 11, he got a call that the hospitals in Bowling Green were in need of blood, so he contacted someone at T.J. Samson Community Hospital and was told they were working on getting some ready to send but were looking for someone to transport it, so Shirley volunteered.
He had dropped it off at The Medical Center at Bowling Green, but it wasn’t until he was on his way back that he started getting reports of damage in Barren County, specifically along Herbert Turner Road near Park City, so he went there and saw “that we had significant damage.”
Shirley was also checking with local law enforcement agencies and dispatchers to check on whether anyone was in danger at that time and learned there were no reports of anyone’s being trapped or in immediate danger – only property damage.
The heaviest area of damage was in Cave City around Mammoth Cave and Sanders streets, the latter of which runs between Cracker Barrel and McDonalds, at some of the hotels in the vicinity then over toward Doyle Park and the mobile homes in that area and then along the Grinstead Mill Road vicinity, he said, and on to the Hart County line, so that’s where he spent most of the second day.
“The part of town it went through had a lot of older structures,” he said.
A shelter was set up next to the Cave City Convention Center that ultimately no one used.
“Let’s make no mistake about it, Barren County was blessed,” Shirley said. “Thirty miles to the west, we had a lot of fatalities and the farther west you got, the worse it go. We were totally blessed.”
An aerial drone-captured image provided by Glasgow-Barren County Emergency management shows some of the damage caused by a Dec. 11, 2021, tornado in northwestern Barren County.
After those first two days or so, Shirley said, it “was pretty much a blur.” The emergency was over, so then it was a matter of helping with damage assessments, getting roadways cleared and trees and other debris carried away.
The county received a total reimbursement from FEMA for $19,263.74, but that was only for expenses incurred in the unincorporated portions of the county, Shirley said. Cave City and Park City were reimbursed separately, he said.
Park City’s reimbursement was $12,008.74. Cave City’s was not immediately available.
Robert Smith, public works director for Cave City, said they had a lot of buildings that FEMA wouldn’t count because they weren’t residences, like four or five of the hotels there that were all impacted to some degree and one of which was closed for almost a year. The ice cream business and the former Hickory Villa restaurant building, both along Sanders Street, had minor damage, Smith said.
The image from the aftermath that stuck with him the most was “all of the damage to the senior citizen housing,” he said, referring to an apartment complex along Doyle Street, off Grinstead Mill Road. “Just trying to calm people down and work with them, especially the elderly.”
At that apartment complex, the winds tore off the roof and some air conditioning units and some apartments flooded, he said.
“They were unlivable for a while,” Smith said. “Most of them stayed with family.”
Ordinarily, Barren County’s total expenses would not have totaled enough to be eligible for the FEMA assistance, Shirley said, but the tornado that struck here was included in with others for one larger claim.
He said state and local politicians worked hard to get all the impacted counties included in the assistance.
Barren County, via Barren River Lake State Resort Park, was among the locations that temporarily hosted the members of households who were displaced due to the tornadoes across the commonwealth. Dozens of families stayed at the local state park facilities and received meals as well for periods of time that varied from days to a few months before other accommodations were made or otherwise found.
National Weather Service details
Maps and summary information for each of the Dec. 10-11, 2021, confirmed tornadoes in its service area and beyond are available on the National Weather Service – Louisville’s website.
According to that information, the two tornadoes – an EF 2 and the deadly EF3 — that hit Warren County, mostly in Bowling Green; the EF2 that passed through northwestern Barren County that started in the southeast corner of Edmonson County and ended in Hart County; and the EF2 that cut through central Hart County all happened between 1:09 a.m. and 2:17 a.m. Dec. 11.
The one that crossed Barren County started at 1:40 a.m. and ended at 1:54 a.m. CST, according to the NWS site. That twister went for 16.6 miles and was as wide as 900 yards, with wind speeds reached 130 miles per hour.
The official summary is this: “The tornado began east of I-65 in Edmonson County, where the Emergency Manager informed the National Weather Service of tree damage in this area. The tornado strengthened quickly and crossed into Barren County, following along US 31W through Park City. In Park City, the damage was rated EF1 with many barns encountering roof loss or complete failure, along with many trees found snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued along US 31W into Cave City where it strengthened to EF2 (130mph). The damage sustained here was major loss of roof structures to motels, hotels, and restaurants, highway signs destroyed, metal light poles collapsed, and major destruction to a trailer park. From here, the tornado continued along US 31W into Hart County through downtown Horse Cave. Here the damage was rated EF1 with small roof damage, large limbs being snapped, and walls blown out of some older tobacco warehouses. Once reaching Dawson Knob, the tornado weakened and likely converged with the supercell moving into Hardyville. Due to the knob terrain in this area, there are spots of weaker damage found; however, on the down-sloping side, the tornado strengthened rapidly. This pattern was found twice in this damage path.”
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