05:43 PM EDT on Friday, May 19, 2006

The cleanup is underway after a wind microburst damaged businesses and sent five to the hospital in Campbellsville in Taylor County, about an hour and a half south of Louisville.

National Weather Service officials say the winds were about 60 miles per hour when they destroyed the building.

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Three people had to be rescued from inside as the winds ripped the roof off and threw the debris on a business next door.

Two people who were in the drive-through line at a nearby Arby's were also hospitalized when they were trapped in their cars.

We're being told the injuries were not life threatening.

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NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A spring thunderstorm that rumbled across Kentucky leaving one man dead caused the most damage in Taylor County, the National Weather Service said Friday.

Most of the damage from Thursday’s storm was from trees that were blown down, the weather service said.

Bert Horine Jr., 53, of Lexington died when the wind blew a tree over onto his late-model GMC Yukon Denali at about 4 p.m. EDT, Jessamine County officials said.

“We had a real quick burst of wind,” Sheriff’s Capt. Kevin Corman. “It appears that just as he was driving by, the tree just fell across the driver’s compartment.”

The tree fell hard enough to force the bottom of the SUV’s home onto the road, leaving ruts in the blacktop, Corman said.

In Taylor County five people were sent to a local hospital, including one with a broken leg, according to Taylor County Emergency Management. Several businesses sustained significant damage after a storm packing 80 mph winds rolled through Campbellsville, about 90 miles south of Louisville.

Winds were accelerated by a phenomenon called a microburst, according to the weather service.

Three people working at a Movie Gallery video rental store had to be rescued before being sent to Taylor Regional Hospital, Taylor County 911 supervisor Ann Sanders said.

Two other people who were in the drive-thru line at an adjacent Arby’s restaurant were also hospitalized following the storm.

Bill Edwards, Taylor Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department director, said none of the injuries were life-threatening but that some victims would be held overnight for observation.

“There were some lacerations, maybe a couple of broken bones,” Edwards said.

Power in the downtown area was out and a gas line in the Movie Gallery had to be shut off after the storm, Sanders said.

Karen Hall, manager at the Campbellsville Taylor County Airport, said the storm came up suddenly.

“It was a pop-up thing,” Hall said. “We had showers and thunderstorms all afternoon, and then this just kind of happened.”

The National Weather service also had reports of hail in Cynthiana in Harrison County and Buckner in Oldham County. The office also received a report of 50 mph area winds in Richmond and reports of trees and power lines down in several Eastern Kentucky counties.

Taylor County was the site of the most extensive damage from strong winds, the National Weather Service in Louisville reported Friday. Taylor County’s seat, Campbellsville, is about 90 miles south of Louisville.

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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)