LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The National Weather Service in Louisville spent Thursday surveying damage from storms that officials said produced three tornadoes and left one man dead in the Valley Station community Wednesday. 

Thursday morning, Meteorologist John Gordon checked on an apartment complex on Brooklawn Drive in the Pleasure Ridge Park community that he said was the hardest hit. 

Gordon uses a list of 28 indicators to determine the severity of storms, things like damage to power poles, downed trees and damage to service station canopies. 

“All the vehicles have insulation, mud spatter and debris all around it,” he said. “If it was straight line winds, it would go just from the southwest to the northeast. They’re in all directions. You see in the trees behind us, you see insulation and sheeting and fascia and gutters that are all encased and twisted around the various trees. Trees are snapped. Trees are turned.”

That’s all evidence that points to a tornado. Gordon believes it was an EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 110 miles per hour. 

“It is a miracle that our city, there’s not more devastation to life,” he said.   

Gordon said it’s a misconception that tornadoes don’t hit cities, explaining that every severe thunderstorm is capable of producing one. 

He planned to use a drone to determine the length and width of the Pleasure Ridge Park tornado. 

Two other EF-1 tornadoes hit the Newburg community of Louisville, according to Gordon.