Early Thursday storms knocked out power in parts of Florence and left a trail of damage across roads, businesses and utility infrastructure in Northern Kentucky. A huge power pole went down on Industrial Road, power was out in the area, and outages spread into the Mall Road corridor as crews began sorting through the damage.
The outage hit more than one corner of the city at once. Reports from county dispatchers and the National Weather Service in Wilmington said the storms produced multiple damage calls across northern Kentucky, and residents reported the loss of power at the Joseph Cadillac dealership. On Mall Road and Dream Street, damage was reported at Red Lobster, Costco and Dave & Buster’s, while a large tree came down on Merravay Drive.
Melissa Kramer said the loss of power at the Florence Y’ALL water tower led to an overflow event because the tower’s pumps could not move water through the system. Even so, water service was not disrupted for customers. Greater Cincinnati Water Works had already adjusted operations to pump around the tower, and water was still discharging as expected, which meant the system was doing what it was designed to do to avoid damage.
That detail matters because the tower overflowed at the same time parts of Florence were still dark. The city said an electrician inspected the pumps and related equipment and found no water damage, while minor repairs were underway, including replacement of select parts inside an electrical panel. The storm damage also reached Big Red Appliances on Dream Street, where the roof was ripped off, underscoring how sharply the weather hit both homes and businesses in the area.
The immediate question is how quickly service can be restored in the Florence Mall Road and Industrial Road areas. For now, the outage remains the clearest sign of how early Thursday’s storms strained the city at street level, but the water system itself stayed online for customers even as crews worked to get the tower back to normal operation once electrical service returns and repairs are finished.
