Danville mayor looks back on tornadoes one year later – WKYT
BOYLE COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – It will be a somber weekend across Kentucky as many pause to remember the lives lost during the December 10th and 11th tornadoes.
Most of the destruction happened in western Kentucky, in communities like Mayfield and Dawson Springs. However, that storm system also moved through central Kentucky, spawning a number of tornadoes across our region.
Danville Mayor Mike Perros says they were aware of the severe weather that was coming to western Kentucky on the night of December 10, 2021. However, they did not anticipate it coming so far to the northeast.
“Not saying we weren’t prepared. We just didn’t expect it to come into us like it did,” Mayor Perros said.
Four tornadoes hit Boyle County, and the EF-2 seriously damaged the Danville-Boyle County Airport, destroying at least 13 planes.
“When you look at the damage to steel hangers that just got ripped up off of concrete pads, and you see airplanes that I’ve been twisted like a washrag, it’s really amazing, and you understand the power,” Mayor Perros said.
The airport had three more hangars. However, one year later, there are little more than the foundations left behind as the airport continues to rebuild. To make matters worse, two people bound for Boyle County died on the night of the 10th in a Lincoln County plane crash. They crashed two miles short of the airport.
“He was coming in from Florida, got disoriented, and did not make it to the airport,’ Mayor Perros said. “Hangars, and airplanes, you can replace, but a life, you can’t.”
Seeing what happened out west, he considers his city and his county to be lucky that the situation was not any worse.
“I think you feel fortunate, and you feel for the people in the western part of the state,” Mayor Mayor Perros “You look at that in contrast, and you feel pretty fortunate that it wasn’t any worse.”
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