Linda West, a resident of Cave City, describes damage her apartment endured during a line of severe storms early Saturday morning on Dec. 11, 2021. West, along with several other residents of the state, awoke shortly after midnight to gusting winds and rainfall.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
CAVE CITY — Hours after tucking herself to bed, Linda West narrowly missed the full destruction of a series of severe storms early Saturday.
With tears in her eyes and shaking hands, West explained the moments when she heard water droplets drip onto her apartment’s floor. Moments later the ceiling gave way.
“Both of my windows was laying out there in the middle of the floor, and I got up and I tried to put them back together. I couldn’t do it,” West said. “I went back and got into bed and covered up. I’d wait a few minutes and it kept getting worse and worse.”
Ravaged roofs, siding and building materials line the doors along the senior living apartment complex in which West resides.
After she got out of bed and wheeled herself to the living room, she noticed her windows in the living room and caving ceiling.
“I walked in here, and I looked up,’” West said. “I just started throwing stuff together.”
West said she left the home in her wheelchair during the storm and moments later the ceiling inside her home collapsed beneath its saturated insulation.
“Took me about three minutes or I would’ve been under the middle of all of it,” West said.
Crews were working to repair the apartments, but the most of West’s belongings were covered with the ceiling’s ashy and wet interior. She said she planned to spend Saturday night with a neighbor.
Structural damage was noted atop a home a few blocks from West.
Stephen Hatcher said he heard a weather alert around 1:30 a.m.
“I heard that there was inclement weather on the way, and I got my family and got out,” Hatcher said.
The family traveled to Hatcher’s aunt and uncle’s home, he said.
“We’re just thankful that God watched over us and spared us and woke us up,” Hatcher said. “We’re doing well today.”
The home’s roof had a tarp placed atop a hole caused by the storm. A crew was present to repair the damages.
It’s unclear whether a tornado officially made its way across Cave City. National Weather Service crews and state government officials were assessing and triaging damages in western Kentucky where storms hit the hardest.
Power lines and trees were down across much of the city Saturday. Crews were working to ensure residents were safe and accounted for. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.
