“From what we gathered from the way the calls came in, it looks like this one hit in Rineyville first, went down 1600, came through Hutcherson Lane, crossed 31W, and went back Teresa Road,” said Elizabethtown Police Sgt. Tim Cleary. 

The storm knocked out electricity along the 4900 block of North Dixie and mangled traffic lights at the W.A. Jenkins Road intersection.  Eleven mobile homes on Teresa Road were demolished.  Strips of aluminum siding, shreds of insulation, and fragments of the trailers and their contents were strewn across the ground and liberally woven among tree branches and utility lines. 

One of the mobile homes on the Luv Homes lot was knocked off its underpinning and blown across Teresa Road.  Two transport crews worked together to pull it back onto the lot.

The Baby Tender Day Care and Preschool sustained damage, and the playground was littered with debris.  Across the street, the Hardin County Board of Education office sat completely unscathed, while the building beside it was destroyed.

The Keystop gas station and food mart at 4897 North Dixie was reduced to rubble.  Cleary said the five people who were in the shop when the storm hit took refuge in the cooler at the rear of the store.  That cooler was the only part of the building that remained standing after the tornado swept through.  Out front, two gas pumps were toppled, while nearby, a leaking 500-pound propane tank caused temporary concern until Radcliff firefighters stopped its emission.

Several homes were damaged on Cecilianna Drive, and power lines were reported down on both 1600 and South Wilson Road. 

Though the tornado’s path brought it within close proximity of John Hardin High School, Bluegrass Middle School, and New Highland Elementary School, no damage to those buildings has been reported. 

Hardin County Emergency Management established a command post in the parking lot of Luv Homes at 4964 North Dixie.  At least eleven agencies reported, including Elizabethtown and Radcliff Police and Fire Departments, KSP, KVE, Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, Hardin County Ambulance Service, and a unit from the Kentucky State Fire Marshall’s Office. 

Elizabethtown police officers worked traffic control at the W.A. Jenkins Road intersection, directing the constant stream of vehicles that crawled in both directions along North Dixie. 

Amazingly, no injuries were reported.

Lisa Burnett’s daughter and three grandchildren were in their home on Teresa Road when the tornado struck.  Burnett was talking with her daughter on the telephone when the storm interrupted their conversation.

“My husband had called me to tell me it was coming through, and I called her to warn them,” Burnett said.  “She said it was hitting right then.”

The porch and part of the trailer’s roof was torn away. 

“But other than that, everybody’s safe and sound,” said Burnett.  “As soon as I could, I got over here.”

Burnett didn’t have far to travel.  She was visiting with her father one street over in Plantation Park, where homes also sustained damage from the storm.

Jonathan Hart also lived in a mobile home on Teresa Road.  His grandmother and a friend were with him when the tornado struck. 

“We all piled in the bathtub, and everybody was praying,” he said.  Hart and his companions heard the windows breaking, and then, “it picked the trailer up off the ground and set it right back down.”

“All you could hear was a roaring noise, like a train, and then after that, you could feel it lift the trailer up,” said Hart’s friend, Candy Rigdon. 

“Everybody was still praying,” said Hart.  “You could still hear glass and stuff flying and hitting the side of the trailer.”

Then, Hart said, everything became very quiet.  After a moment, it started to rain.

The National Weather Service organized Storm Survey Teams that were scheduled to investigate the storm damage on Tuesday, January 3.