High winds knock down a barn in Jessamine County

The storm system that blew through Jessamine County early Wednesday morning knocked down a nearly 100-year-old barn on Union Mill Road, according to its owner.

“I’d say that barn is close to 100 years old, but it was sturdy,” Doug Fain said. “It was a five-tier high tobacco barn. It went through all these years and with the winds that we’ve had and made it through without a problem. It had to be a heck of a wind to take that thing down.”

Fain said the storm rolled through a little after 6 a.m. when he noticed the high winds.

“About 6:15 (Wednesday morning) I happened to look at the radar on my phone, and I saw that we were getting ready to get hit. Just about that time I heard rain drops hit my front window, which we’ve got a covered porch, so it really had to be blowing to hit our windows,” he said. “I heard what sounded like a big whistle noise. I went to the front door, and I couldn’t hardly get my glass door open because the wind was blowing so hard.”

Fain said at first, the only damage he noticed was part of a tree near his driveway had been knocked down and some damage to a trampoline.

“I never thought anything about the barn that sits up the hill from me and my mom’s house,” Fain said.
That barn sat about 150 yards from the houses.

It was when Fain was getting ready to take his children to school that the family saw the barn.

“At 7:30, I get in my vehicle and I was pulling away from the garage, and my son says, “Oh no, did you see that?” That’s when I turned my head and saw the barn; I didn’t know about it until that point,” Fain said. “I went to my mom’s house and woke her up. She had no clue; she heard the wind, but she didn’t hear the barn go down because the wind was so loud.”

Fain said his grandparents purchased the houses and the land in 1943, and the barn was already on the property.

The barn housed lawn mowers and other equipment.

“I had three mowers, a pull-behind 8-foot trailer and some tools and that kind of stuff,” Fain said. “The most valuable thing was my zero-turn mower, of course. But those can be replaced.”

Fain said as of early Wednesday afternoon, he was unsure of the amount of damage to the equipment.

“I can’t tell right now because it’s covered up,” he said. “I can kind of see them; I know the zero-turn’s handle is broke and the little red riding mower is under tier rails, but until we start clearing the stuff out, I won’t be able to tell what kind of shape any of it’s in.”

Nobody got hurt during the storm, Fain said.

“That’s the thing; if this wind had gone up the hill 100 yards or so, it would have hit my mom’s house, and if it had gone down the hill, it would have hit my house. It just went right between us,” he said. “That’s the miracle; it’s just a barn and some equipment, and we can replace that.”