Kentucky Ice Storm Response - 2009
An account of UFST response to the ice storm of January 26th, 2009 in Kentucky.
2009-02-22
Reconnaissance in Western Kentucky
Sarah Gracey, Pete Barber (both Kentucky Division of Forestry), and Dudley Hartel (Urban Forestry South) visited five communities in western Kentucky to determine the need for a UFST response.
The reconnaissance began in Mayfield (west of the Land Between the Lakes) on Tuesday morning (February 17th) where we saw extensive damage to trees in public housing areas, along streets and in several parks.
In Paducah, we toured through the heavily damaged Nobel Park and surrounding areas. We ended the day with a tour of Henderson parks where damage was extensive but not heavy.
On Wednesday we met in Madisonville where damage was extremely heavy. Later that morning we looked at parks in Owensboro that were heavily damaged. From an arborist's perspective, the best description is "depressing".
Of the communities that we visited, Madisonville and Owensboro appeared to be the most heavily damaged; Mayfield and Paducah also suffered tremendous loss and UFST expertise will be helpful at those locations.
A tentative schedule will put one team (5 crews, 2 team leaders, plus technical support) in Kentucky beginning on March 16th. A standard 10 day deployment is being planned at this time.