LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Homes and businesses in the Louisville area are picking up the pieces after a line of severe storms moved through Kentuckiana Wednesday afternoon, leaving damage in its wake.

Speaking from MetroSafe headquarters in downtown Louisville Wednesday night, Mayor Craig Greenberg said it is believed that one person died "potentially" related to the storms in the Dixie Highway area of south Louisville. 

"The coroner's department will provide more information," Greenberg said. "Our thoughts tonight are with the family of that individual who passed this evening potentially related to the storm."

A city spokesperson told WDRB News that a tree fell on the person who died, but an official cause of death will come from the coroner's office. 

The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado hit Newburg during the storms, with winds up to 90 miles per hour in the area of Bishop Lane by the Kroger Distribution Center.

John Gordon, with the NWS, was in Louisville surveying the damage on Wednesday and said he believes there was more than one tornado in the area. He also said that just looking at the damage from the ground, it was obvious a tornado touched down in Newburg.

"What you look for is the pattern of the debris, which way is it going, which way between the stuffing, the insulation, between the trees, between the debarking, between the whole wind pattern. Power poles, how they're shifted and tilted," Gordon said. 

Gordon also spoke during Greenberg's news conference at MetroSafe, and said the winds that have come through the Louisville area so far this year have been some of the worst he's ever seen, citing the 79 mph winds recorded at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on March 3 and the 78 mph winds recorded at the airport Wednesday.

"I've never seen a windier year, ever, ever, in my life than this winter, going into the early spring," he said.

Gordon said, preliminarily, he predicts the width of the Newburg tornado to be about 70 to 100 yards wide, but doesn't know yet where it ended. He expects to confirm a second tornado after surveying more on Thursday.

"There was really good circulation around Shelbyville, near the Snyder," he said. "Also near Old Henry and the Snyder where I found a tornado the other night, the same darn place." 

Gordon was referencing an EF-1 tornado that touched down in eastern Jefferson and Shelby counties last Saturday around midnight.

The NWS also plans to assess damage in Crawford County, Indiana, and the Shively and Pleasure Ridge Park areas of Louisville.

In Newburg, where the EF-1 tornado was confirmed, part of a building collapsed on Robards Lane near Gardiner Lane. Neighbors were out helping one another pick up after the storm rolled through. 

A man who was out in a neighborhood across from the Jefferson County Public Schools' VanHoose Education Center on Newburg Road spoke to WDRB News as he was cleaning up for his uncle.

"He said he had someone coming tomorrow but I said 'We'll get it cleaned up now,' and my son is on his way over with his trailer and so we'll try to get it loaded up and look like it never happened," Dickie Abell said. 

IMAGES | Wind and weather damage from April 5, 2023 storms

Powerful storms packing damaging straight line winds moved through Kentuckiana on April 6, uprooting trees and snapping utility poles. At least one tornado was confirmed. 

In south Louisville, about 50 people were displaced from their apartment complex in the area of Brooklawn and Blanton in the PRP area. Light poles and trees were ripped from the ground, some tossed right on top of the buildings. Windows were shattered and the roofs of the apartment buildings were heavily damaged by falling trees and the powerful winds. One section of a roof was ripped off and tossed up a hill.

Police, fire and EMS all responded to the apartments, where at least one person was injured and sent to a local hospital. But before first responders arrived, neighbors, residents and the apartment complex's maintenance crew jumped in to help.

Rich Crawford said he and another worker checked on the two back apartment buildings that were hit the hardest, and one man was trapped inside his unit.

"I was able to enter through the back and find him in the living room and was able to get EMS and fire back there and get into the building to get him," Crawford said, adding that the man walked off on his own before going into an ambulance.

There are at least 30 units there that are now blocked off by police tape, where people can't return home either because of damage or being too close. Other units don't have power, among thousands in Jefferson County who lost power during the storms. 

The Red Cross is helping those who were displaced from the apartments.

Joyce Kuntz, her husband and their four grandkids frantically searched for safety when the storm hit Alreva Road.

"It's horrible. It's horrible," Kuntz said. "We were running, trying to get to the basement." But Kuntz said they weren't able to get to the basement because the storm "hit too quick."

The family huddled in a hallway as a tree crashed on top of their home of 30 years.

"All of our ceilings are down in every room," she said. "Our roof is down inside our house."

Kuntz's brother-in-law, Fred Kuntz, was stuck outside when the storm hit. He got tossed to the ground twice, and is thankful he's alive.

"One minute later, it was over. Dried up and everything, it was crazy," Fred Kuntz said. "They say cat's got nine lives. I probably got ten."

Fred Kuntz's car was totaled, so was Joyce Kuntz's other car and their camper. Their home has holes in the roof and is soaked inside.

"I'm sorry. It's awful. Everything we got is destroyed," Joyce Kuntz said.

The family has somewhere to stay now, but their next steps remain unknown. 

In south Louisville, an entire block of Iverness Avenue near Iroquois Park is dealing with damage after four trees fell during the storm. One of those trees fell through the roof of a home. Luckily, no one was in the house when the storm rolled through. 

Two doors down from that home, a tree snapped and hit the power line. Crews were there within minutes to block off the area and cut the line. The same property had a tree fall on the garage.

"Our tenant called us and said 'Guess what? The big tree next door that we've been worried about has come down,'" Linda Cambron said, adding that the home is the third she owns that has suffered damage this season because of the storms. "I think our insurance company is going to love us. We've had another tree come down. The adjusters are just going crazy, you can't get them to call you back."

In east Louisville, powerful winds ripped off a roof. Teca Inc., in the area of Cargo Court in Jeffersontown, is a warehouse that ships beauty supplies all over the country. The storm made a direct hit, leaving twisted steel, broken cinderblocks, insulation and plywood everywhere. A few women were in the building when it happened.

"I was on the top floor and as soon as the rain started, this just big gush of wind just took the roof off," Denise Burns, Teca Inc. CFO, said. "Then the water started coming in, and we heard things crashing and dropping. And then once we've made it out and started seeing all of that debris, to realize either a tornado or straight-line winds. So very, very loud, very scary. I've always heard people say it was gonna sound like a train and that's exactly what it sounded like."

No one at the warehouse was injured, and the company said it is insured. 

Near West Buechel, a tree sliced through the roof of a home with a "for sale" sign out front. WDRB News learned that the home was for sale and that closing on the home was set for later this week. The home's owner died a year ago, and his brother was taking care of the property. No one was injured as the home was empty.

The storms left thousands of people without power. As of 9 p.m., an estimated 17,260 homes were without power in Jefferson County, according to the LG&E/KU outage map. Between Oldham and Shelby counties, less than 10 homes were without power. In Bullitt County, an estimated 137 homes had no power, 22 were without power in Hardin County, and less than five were without power in Meade County.

To monitor LG&E outages or to report an outage in Kentucky, click here.

To monitor Duke outages or to report an outage in Indiana, click here.

This story may be updated.

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