Y2K came and went with no problems in Crittenden County Kentucky. But T2K was coming... When, three days later, everything changed.
The skies darkened in the early afternoon and about 2:30 PM, the electricity went out in Marion Kentucky. While the rains poured and winds blew, we were in darkness and most of the people didn't know a tornado was about to touch down. About 3:30, a very large F3 tornado touched down in Crayne, a small comunity in the southern part of the county.Almost without exception everybuilding in Crayne was damaged by the tornado , including over 100 homes.
The tornado then continued in a northeasterly direction and did a lot of damage on Welden Road. It then crossed over to KY State Hwy 506. Then it continued across country to tear up trees and barns. It then crossed over Blackburn Church Road tearing up farm houses, barns and mobile homes.
The twister, with winds up to 190 mph , then crossed over the hills into the Sugar Grove comunity, where it completely destroyed Perry and Viola James house and took off a large part of Jeff James house and dropped it in the front yard of D.R. Fritts.
It then continued on in a northeasterly direction towards Deanwood and KY State Hwy 120. Crossing over 120 just east of Deanwood and destroying thousands of very old and large trees. After coming out of the woods, it them ripped through Bobby Travis's house destroying all but the back bedroom. Bobby Travis was napping one minute and the next he was staring up at a very angry sky. He had been covered with a comforter which was later found in what was left of the attic.
At that point, the tornado seemed to go up into the clouds and went toward Diamond in Webster County, tearing up trees and some barns along the way. It is believed that it didn't come down again until it got to Owensboro Kentucky --eleven minutes after it hit the James' home.
In Owensboro it did extensive damage to a large portion of the town. 750 building caught the brunt of the storm. Some schools were closed and roads closed for about a week. Many houses there were totally destroyed.
The most amazing thing about this storm is that it caused millions of dollars in damage but it did not take a single human life. Just one insurance carrier said they would pay out clamims in excess of $10 million dollars.
Again, in Owensboro, none of the injuries were life threatening!
Numerous animals were killed, but NO HUMANS!
Below are some photographs of the damage.
(map above is from the Crittenden Press and photos below are from Bob Lamb)
Crayne Kentucky, where the tornado first hit. Roads were blocked by trees and debris. Group of three Photos
Upper left. This is the Poindexter home at the corner of N.Weldon and HWY 506. As you can see it took a serious blow, with thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Upper right. These evergreen trees were full grown and in the front of the Guess house on 506.
Immediate left. This house on Weldon Road lost the back of it. Notice the trees were undisturbed.
This one of the houses on Weldon Road. This another house on Weldon Road. This is another house on Weldon Road. The photo above shows the wreckage of Perry and Viola James house on Sugar Grove Road. This piece of tin was hanging in a tree at the James house. A small limb was imbedded in the tin! Another view of the debris at the Perry James home.
This Perry James workshop! The photograph above is another view of the same workworkshop with Perry's truck that was inside. Amazingly the car and truck only had minor damage. Above is Jeff James house with his new addition missing. Above is the new addition that Jeff James lost. It landed in D.R. Fritts front yard! Above and to the right are examples of what a twister can do to a ceder tree. This looked like it had been chewed by a very large monster. This ceder was about two feet in diameter! The storm really took it's toll on many large trees in Crittenden County. They looked like they were simply pushed over or twisted off. It looked as though Ceders were the hardest hit. Most of them didn't simply lay down, but were twisted apart.
