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A 71-year-old man is dead and another man is in jail following an alleged hit and run incident in Upton Wednesday.

“At 11:53 a.m., a 911 call was received of a vehicle versus pedestrian accident on U.S. 31W in Upton,” said Hardin County Sheriff John Ward. “Upton Volunteer Fire Department personnel were on scene first and found a 71-year-old male from Upton had been struck by a vehicle. The vehicle was no longer at the scene. The vehicle left the scene.”

The victim was tended to by EMS, however he was later pronounced dead by the Hardin County Coroner’s Office.

Deputies began investigating the incident, and through cameras available at the scene the suspect vehicle was identified and later located about two miles into Hart County on 31W, where Ward said it appeared that the driver had attempted to put the vehicle into a barn.

“Our deputies and the Hart County Sheriff’s Office approached the vehicle and found a gentleman, and he was arrested for DUI and lodged in the Hart County Jail,” Ward said. “He also has pending charges coming from out of Hardin County.”

Ward later identified the victim as 71-year-old Pete Hawk of Upton and the accused driver as Matthew Bush. The crash remains under investigation.

Daily lane closures will begin on Interstate 65 in Bullitt County today.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says KYTC engineers will be performing routine hands-on inspection of the I-65 bridge over Salt River near mile marker 116. The bridge deck will also be cleaned, requiring additional lane closures.

The right lane of I-65 South at the bridge will be closed from 9 to 11 a.m. today, then the northbound lane will be closed from 12 to 3 p.m. The right lane will then be closed Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and the northbound lane will be closed Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Motorists should always use caution when approaching a work zone and look for signage. Visit the KYTC on the web for more information.

A strong storm cell that blew through the area Tuesday resulted in widespread power outages and extensive restoration work for Nolin RECC crews.

Nolin RECC Communications Manager Sarah Fellows says the storm that came through did a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

“At the peak there were about 4,300 members without power, and that was really spread across our entire service territory,” Fellows said. “It wasn’t isolated in one area, and because of the widespread nature of that damage, we could see full restoration taking a couple of days, so some members may expect to be without power at least through tomorrow or longer depending on where we find the damage across our system.”

Nolin crews had reduced the number of members without power to about 1,600 by late Tuesday afternoon. You can stay updated on the outages by staying connected via the web.

“We do post updates regularly to our social media channels, especially as we get new information in from the field to be able to update our members, and we also have a real time outage map that can be found at NolinRECC.com,” Fellows said.

The power outages postponed the open house scheduled for West Hardin Middle School seventh and eighth grade families, which has been rescheduled for Wednesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m.

“It will be a staggered open house,” said Hardin County Schools Community Relations Specialist John Wright. “Students with last names beginning A through M are asked to attend from 6 to 7 p.m., and then students with last names N through Z are asked to attend from 7 to 8 p.m. The sixth grade Laker Fun Day will still take place on Wednesday the 31st from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Of course, all of that will take place at West Hardin Middle School.”

Watch for downed trees as a result of the storm, and always stay away from downed power lines.