Severe storms, tornadoes rip through Kentucky

Crews across the state are cleaning up this morning from severe storms that ripped through western and central Kentucky last night.

Trees, power lines and parts of buildings were knocked down by straight-line winds.

Christian County has declared a state of emergency. The county's emergency management director says a couple more serious injuries were reported in his area, and a few dozen people were treated at the Hopkinsville hospital's emergency room.

He says authorities were carrying out search and rescue missions in rural areas, but were having trouble because of blocked roadways. There have been reports of widespread structural damage there.

The storms came in two waves, starting Sunday afternoon. The more severe storms in the second wave had mostly passed through by late last night.

A national weather service spokesman says crews will be out to analyze the damage today. Officials believe several tornadoes touched down, but they say it's difficult to tell in the dark.