Family Recovering From Injuries Following Severe Storms

A Fleming County family is recovering after being injured during heavy storms that passed through the area on Tuesday (July 14).

On Wednesday morning, several family members, friends and neighbors gathered in a yard on Cherry Grove Road to help remove items from the rubble that was once a mobile home.

Marcha Mitchell, the sister of one of the injured, stood watch as everyone searched through debris for wallets, purses, and any undamaged, irreplaceable items. At one point, even a race car was pulled from the wreckage.

According to Mitchell, Mitch and Teresa Stamm, along with their children, 16-year-old Jesse and 19-year-old Haylley Stamm were in the trailer when it was damaged.

“When the storms would get bad, I would ask her how they were riding over here,” Mitchell said, recalling how she used to joke to her sister about the trailer rocking during heavy winds. “We’ve had bad winds before, but nothing like this.”

Mitchell said she had just arrived home and was in the process of putting up groceries when the storms began.

“I told my husband that a storm was coming and to turn on the Weather Channel,” she said. “I looked out the window and saw it was getting bad. The sky was dark and swirling. I turned my back and when I looked out again, the trailer was gone.”

She said it took less than a minute for the mobile home to be ripped from the ground and tossed across the lawn.

“They were all thrown from the trailer,” she said. “I was scared. We called EMS and they responded in a decent amount of time, but they had to go the long way around because of all the downed trees on the roadway.”

Mitchell said the family was out from beneath debris before EMS arrived, thanks to help from neighbors.

“There is a nurse that lives up the street from us,” she said. “She came up and some of the neighbors came and helped. Mitchell and Teresa were out before EMS got here.”

According to Mitchell, Teresa Stamm received injuries to her hand, Haylley Stamm has a broken leg and a puncture wound and Jesse Stamm has a compressed vertebrae. All were taken to the University of Kentucky Medical Center where they have undergone minor surgeries and are recovering. Mitchell Stamm has been released from the hospital and is currently staying with Mitchell’s mother.

Mitchell said the trailer was not the only damage to the property. Three garages were leveled, several trees were knocked over and the windows in her mobile home were blown out.

Several vehicles, including the race car pulled from the rubble, were underneath the trailer.

The National Weather Service was expected to be in Fleming County Wednesday to assess damage and decide if it was a tornado or straight line winds that caused the damage.

Magistrate John Sims Jr., who also works with Fleming County Emergency Management, said he believes it was straight line winds.

“If I had to guess, I would say most likely straight line winds, because all the damage was in a straight line. However, we won’t know for sure until (Wednesday) when the weather service officials come in.”

However, Mitchell disagrees.

“It was black and swirling out here,” she said. “What I saw looked like a tornado. Parts of the trailer are up behind my home. I don’t think straight line winds would do that.”

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