Gov. Andy Beshear viewed property damages Friday afternoon in downtown Hopkinsville, prompting an agreement by local officials to declare a state of emergency so state assets can be leveraged to help clear out trees and other debris brought down by the March 31 storm.
“We’re going to do everything we can,” Beshear told Mayor James R. Knight Jr. and Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam, along with several other local officials.
After Beshear toured downtown, Knight, Gilliam and Christian County Emergency Manager Randy Graham told the governor they would declare a state of emergency .
That declaration is based on the fact that the amount of storm debris still on the ground exceeds the ability of local government to clean it up in a timely manner, Graham told Hoptown Chronicle. The local declaration will allow the state to send trucks and equipment that can used to pick up more downed trees than local crews could ever do alone, he said.
The March 31 storm — which the National Weather Service attributed to straight-line winds ranging from 80 to 90 mph — damaged 60 residential structures, Graham told the governor. Of those, 17 structures had major damage and seven were destroyed, he said. In addition, there were 25 business structures damaged.
Knight and Gilliam said they were grateful no lives were lost in the storm. The city and county were still cleaning up from another storm on March 3, which left many areas with trees broken and uprooted.
“There’s trees everywhere. It’s bad,” said Ward 6 Councilman Travis Martin.
Beshear viewed three downtown sites with damages — The Mixer restaurant on Sixth Street, Hopkinsville Brewing Co. on Fifth Street, and the Woody Winfree Fire and Transportation Museum and Big Fella’z restaurant on Ninth Street. He spoke briefly with Christian County Historian William T. Turner, whose office is next door to the transportation museum.
Local officials will continue to gather information needed to apply for a national disaster declaration, which is needed before FEMA assistance can be granted.
To qualify for FEMA assistance, the county needs to meet a threshold of approximately $323,000 in uninsured or under-insured damages. The FEMA threshold is based on a county formula of $4.44 per resident, with a population of 72,748. Graham told Hoptown Chronicle he’s not sure the threshold will be met.
Beshear said state emergency officials will look for creative ways to help, which could include pulling in nonprofit organizations.
Ward 1 Councilwoman Natasha Francis told the governor she has about 25 constituents who need help getting trees and limbs out of their yards.
“Let us see what we can do,” Beshear said.
Jeremy Slinker, director of Kentucky Emergency Management, accompanied Beshear on Friday.
“Even if a county meets threshold, the state will have to meet it as well,” Slinker told Hoptown Chronicle in an email following the governor’s stop in Hopkinsville.
The state threshold is approximately $7.98 million in damages, or $1.77 per resident based on the state population of 4.5 million.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
