Hail As Big As Softballs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Violent thunderstorms battered a three-state region with hail as big as softballs and wind that damaged several homes and caused power outages. <br/><br/>The storms that hit Arkansas,

Wednesday, April 4th 2007, 9:54 am

By: News On 6

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Violent thunderstorms battered a three-state region with hail as big as softballs and wind that damaged several homes and caused power outages.

The storms that hit Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee marked the leading edge of a mass of cold air that dropped temperatures Wednesday morning into the 20s in the central Plains and upper Midwest.

No tornadoes were confirmed during the storms Tuesday night, but strong wind heavily damaged three homes in Tennessee's Cumberland County, authorities said.

The storm damaged the roof of the emergency entrance at the Appalachian Regional Hospital in Harlan, Ky., and emergency room patients were moved to another part of the hospital until the storm was over, Dan Moseley, a spokesman for the Harlan County judge-executive, said Wednesday. No one was injured.

More than 42,000 homes and businesses lost power during the storms in Kentucky, utilities said.

Wind gusted to 68 mph at Frankfort, Ky., and hail the size of softball hammered Kentucky's Hart County, the National Weather Service said.

``One (police) cruiser was pelted with golf ball-size hail for probably 20 minutes,'' said Kentucky State Police dispatcher Della Shaw.

High straight-line wind or a possible tornado damaged a business and several parked vehicles in Jonesboro, Ark.

``My truck was just totaled,'' Mark Burrough told Jonesboro television station KAIT-TV. ``We have two or three trailers tipped over.''