LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Louisville seminary student is thanking God tonight. He says he was the target of a giant tree as he was driving home in the storm on Lexington Road and Morningside, right near the Southern Baptist Seminary Campus.

The student, Shawn Gould, was not injured.

"I live in an apartment complex a couple streets over -- I was coming home from work trying to beat the tornadoes that were supposed to be coming and the tree just came straight down, and I couldn't swerve into the lanes, so I just had to slam on the brakes," Gould said. "God is sovereign, he's sovereign over the trees, weather, vehicles and life and I rejoice in him and that he chose not to take me home."

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Shawn Gould

LG&E was called in to help clear the many power lines that were downed as workers started to cut up the tree and get it off the roadway.

And a large tree in the Crescent Hill neighborhood came crashing down, striking the corner of a house near Zorn Avenue in east Louisville.

Power lines also came down, sending some Crescent Hill residents into the dark.

Elsewhere, a local business has a lot of cleaning up to do in the morning after high winds carried wood into their front windows.

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Storm damages to Duplicator Sales & Service storefront on East Broadway

Wood planks from one side of Broadway came crashing through the windows of Duplicator Sales & Service on East Broadway. The wood was most likely from a construction site across the street.

Pieces of a nearby roof also flew into the building. No one was injured.

Gutters from other buildings were also found in the middle of Broadway.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.

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From The Associated Press:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A line of thunderstorms pounded western portions of the state on Thursday night, bringing unconfirmed reports of tornadoes and injuring at least eight people.

Four people were hurt when the mobile home they were in suffered extensive damage in the West Louisville area east of Owensboro, said Captain Jeff Jones with the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office. Their names and the nature of their injuries were not immediately available, Jones said.

A possible tornado was reported in Sebree, Ky., about 20 miles south of Henderson according to the National Weather Service. Four people were hurt when the trailer they were in collapsed due to strong winds, state police said.

“The mobile home was all in pieces,” Webster County Sheriff Frankie Springfield told The Gleaner in Henderson, Ky.

Three people were able to escape the mobile home and another person was found “in the rubble” Springfield told the newspaper. Their injuries appeared to be minor.

State police said there were reports of damage in the area, but could not confirm whether a tornado touched down.

The weather came ahead of a cold front expected to move across the state early Friday morning.

Tornado warnings were issued throughout western Kentucky and southern Indiana ahead of a cold front.

Air sirens rang throughout the state’s largest city after the first line of storms raced through around 7 p.m. EDT. There was no immediate report of damaged power lines. Television pictures showed some tree damage in the Crescent Hill neighborhood of Louisville.

A second and third line of storms continued to move northeast across the state late Thursday, bringing more damage to areas like Nortonville and Princeton in south-central Kentucky according to the state police.

Wind speeds reached 80 miles per hour in New Amsterdam, Ind., said Larry Dattilo with the National Weather Service. There were also reports of small hail accompanying the storms.

A tornado watch for central and western Kentucky and southern Indiana will remain in place until midnight EDT, Dattilo said. The storms could dump several inches of rain to the drought-plagued region before clearing out early Friday morning.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)