MOUNT VERNON — “The wind was blowing hard and then seemed to intensify for a couple of minutes,” is the way Randall Hines described the storm which hit along Murray Road, south of Mount Vernon, early Wednesday morning. That high wind blew down three trees, including a large old maple tree, along the road in front of his property at 16714 Murray Road.
The storm, which covered much of Ohio, blew across Knox County about 1:30 a.m. The intense wind Hines described damaged trees on about a mile-long section of Murray Road east of Newark Road. Part of one tree brought down a power line and set a transformer supplying the Hines home on fire.
The Mount Vernon Fire Department was dispatched to the scene and stood by until an AEP crew could make repairs. Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper Shawn Robles was also dispatched to the scene because of trees across the road.
Hines said Robles got an emergency ax that is carried in OSHP cruisers, and helped Hines and neighbors clear the road. The AEP crew had power back on by 3 a.m. Hines’ telephone service was still out at noon Wednesday.
“I sat straight up in bed and screamed, the wind was horrible,” said Michelle Graham, who lives at 16882 Murray Road, just east of the Hines home. The wind broke off a slender tree about 10 feet above the ground, which fell across her car. The rear window was broken and the windshield, just recently replaced, was broken in several places.
Trees that were blown down across the road just east of Ohio 13 were cut up and moved to the side.
In Mount Vernon, the high wind blew over a tree beside the Kevin Henson home at 506 N. Catherine St. Henson said he was awakened by the wind and heard the crack and crash when the tree fell down. There was no other damage.
