County escapes major damage during Tuesday night storm

Storm sirens blared throughout Bourbon County as a portion of the county was under tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings for several hours late Tuesday night and early Wednesday.

The area was hit with gusty winds, rain and hail at different points during a storm system that moved in Tuesday night.

Bourbon County Emergency Manager William Wallis said Thursday local emergency officials detected cloud rotation in two areas during the storm --one in the Hepler area and another area near Vernon County -- but there were no confirmed touchdowns.

"There was no exact pinpoint location, it was just an area," he said. "It was a fast-moving storm event with wind speeds at 65 mph."

Wallis said the rotation was detected by radar, but could not be seen visually. He said it is also difficult to spot possible tornadoes during nighttime storms.

"According to (Deputy Emergency Manager) Shane Walker, by viewing electronic sources using weather-related computer equipment and different websites, and we were texting back and forth with fire personnel, there were two different areas that had a rotation in it, and it was only detected by debris," Wallis said. "It didn't touch down, it was highly elevated into the atmosphere. This was new technology revealed to us last year some time."

The clouds in the storm peaked at a height of about 50,000 feet, Wallis said.

"It doesn't have to touch the ground to be effective," he said. "It can still do damage in the air ... that's where you start getting hail from because of the height of the clouds."