High winds from a fast moving intense frontal system passage on Wednesday caused some minor problems at most Lake Cumberland marinas, but with two
exceptions nothing major. As winds gusting to 41 mph and possibly greater in localized areas struck during a short-lived torrential downpour
mid-afternoon, power was knocked out to customers in scattered areas throughout the lake region, with some areas still to be restored.
The biggest problems on the lake appear to have happened on the south side in Wayne County. For this article all marinas were contacted except for
BEAVER CREEK MARINA which had phone service on Thursday after it went out during the storm. Damage there consisted only a buckling of
the main dock pier, which also pulled away from the shoreline, killing telephone and connections to the main office area. Access on Thursday meant
going down the long launch ramp and taking a pontoon over to the office pier. There were no real damages seen to boats or other piers. Telephone calls
were routed to Burnside Marina, which is owned by the same group.
Dennis Smith, manager at LEES FORD MARINA reports that during the storm passage, intense winds caused C dock to separate and float
out about 10-15 feet. He said one boat customer saw the break begin and alerted them, and they were able to catch and hold the dock from further
movement until the winds died down. It is back in place with no major damage, though some repairs to the dock will be required. He added that
customers had been contacted with reports on their boats.
Fred Piercy at CONLEY BOTTOM MARINA RESORT reports they experienced no significant problems. “We are very blessed and in good
shape here,” he added, noting that there were a few broken boards and ropes but that it appeared most of the storm went around the dock. Crews
have been checking the marina but had found no major problems by 9 a.m. Thursday.
However, at the top of the hill above Conley Bottom dock, Pedro’s Boat Storage had major damage on one entire wing, according to an eyewitness
who said the roof and walls had collapsed and there appeared to be damage to some boats and campers. A poster on the lakecumbeland.com forum said it
was the building on the left side of the road leaving the dock, closest to the Pedro sign. More details later as they are reported.
There was no damage at BURNSIDE MARINA, according to Dock Master Dick Gaskin. “We had a couple of cables break, but there was
no damage that we know of,” he said. And the winds appeared to have helped clear some of the drift on the lake that came from last week’s
heavy rainstorms.
However, nearby the roof of an office building overlooking the lake above the Waitsboro Recreation Area blew off during the storm. The roof from the
Curt Davis Law Office, which extends over the bluff in a commanding view of the lake beside US-27, reportedly blew across all four lanes of the
highway during the storm, but missed any vehicles that may have been there. Reports on WLEX-TV said it was the third time the building’s roof
had been blown off by winds.
There were no significant storm issues at marinas on the lake’s western end. ALLIGATOR II / INDIAN HILLS said nothing serious
happened. They had to tighten up one finger of the docks, and a canopy on a houseboat needed to be tied down during the storm passage.
Gary Williams, Dock Master at JAMESTOWN MARINA reported no problems and none have been discovered. Like other docks, during the storm
some cables needed adjusting. Across the bay, STATE DOCK said the only issue was loss of power for a while after the storm passed,
like much of that portion of Russell County.
An unconfirmed report on the lakecumberland.com forum noted that CAVE SPRINGS MARINA weathered the storm in good shape. During the
frontal passage, winds may have caused the front pier to float at an angle with loss of power. There wasn’t any early indication that any boats
suffered any damage.
Only a couple of miles away, there was some considerable damage to the Jamestown town square area. The roof of one building blew off onto other
buildings and the sidewalk, with some dislodged bricks crashing down. There were no injuries. Nearby, a plate glass window on the front of the Russell
Co. Library was broken, and just up the street a large awning at a funeral home was blown off.
GRIDER HILL MARINA, which suffered some heavy damage from a tornado in spring 2008, missed any serious damage from Wednesday’s
winds and storm. There were no major problems with the docks, though there were numerous tree limbs down in the camp area. It didn’t appear as
if there was any damage from that, however.
In a news release Thursday morning, electric utility South Kentucky RECC noted they continued working on the outages caused by the storm. As of 9
a.m., approximately 6,500 members were without power and outages were scattered throughout the entire SKRECC system.
At peak Wednesday, more than 15,000 were without power. The 60+ mile per hour winds that accompanied this storm wreaked havoc on power poles and lines
and caused trees to fall on the lines.
SKRECC V-P of Engineering and Operations Steve Conover says crews have been working non-stop to restore electricity. “Many outages had extensive
damage, and it is taking quite a bit of work to get electricity restored to some. It appears that today will be a good day, weather wise, for
restoration efforts, so we should be able to make a great deal of progress.”
Thank's Cumberline for the report.
Yes...Thank you very much Cumberline.
Thanks also, Cumberline
Ditto, Cumberline.
Thank you! I just posted a query on the Conley thread asking about damage. I guess I should have checked here first.
One correction. I finally managed to get a report from a Beaver spokesperson. Damage there consisted only a buckling of the main dock pier, which also
pulled away from the shoreline, killing telephone and connections to the main office area. Access today meant going down the long launch ramp and
taking a pontoon over to the office pier. No real damage to boats or other piers. Telephone calls were routed to Burnside Marina, which is owned by
the same group.
The original article in this thread has been updated with the corrected information.
This Thursday photo shows the only visible damage to the marina, some buckled boards on the pier. Except that the pier pulled away from shore, that's
all there is to see.
Welcome giselle,
don't know if you noticed, but the threat was from back in February. (2/12/09)
Giselle is a spammer....wave bye bye!
| Quote: |
How'd you know that?
I know everything!
| Quote: | |
Originally posted by Nervous_Wreck
How'd you know that? |
Already gone!
Cranky is on it. 
Actually I missed that one - thanks!
That's three this morning - grrrrr
