During the early morning hours of February 6, 2008, Harrison County was faced with a severe weather event which produced extremely strong winds, and damaged several properties.

As of the time of this writing, Harrison County has made a declaration of an emergency state, and has forwarded this declaration to Frankfort, to receive any and all applicable services needed to provide assitance in clean-up and repair efforts. Further assessments and evaluations are being made at this time.

After visiting the area on Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed that one tornado touched down around 1:29 AM off of Mt. Vernon, and traveled 2.5 miles in a northeasterly direction until lifting around 1:34 AM in the farmland a few thousand feet behind Harrison Square Shopping Center. Details of the NWS’ findings are available at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=harrisonkytornadopage.

This is the fifth tornado to have touched-down in Harrison County within recorded history. Previous tornado information is available at the NWS:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=tornado_climatology_harrison_ky

Information available from other media outlets on the storm which struck the county is available below.

The Cynthiana Democrat:

• http://www.cynthianademocrat.com/

The Lexington Herald-Leader:

• http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/311704.html

The National Weather Service:

• http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=february5-6,2008outbreak

• http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=harrisonkytornadopage

WLEX:

• http://www.wlextv.com/ (Video)

• http://www.wlextv.com/global/story.asp?s=7836454

WKYT:

• http://wkytarchives.com/watch?v=2385 (Video – Aired 2/7/2008 5PM)
• http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/15372156.html#

Photographs of the damage sustained at the Cynthiana-Harrison County Airport are available for viewing at:

http://ky0i8.webs.com/apps/photos/album.jsp?albumID=3750883