Politics
Deadly Tornado Outbreak Kills Dozens In Missouri, Kentucky
An intense tornado outbreak that swept across the Ohio Valley on Friday has left at least 27 dead and dozens more injured or missing across multiple states.
U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) confirmed on Saturday afternoon that at least 20 people had been killed in the state and the death toll was “increasing by the hour.”
“Daylight is painting a more complete, and more painful picture of the damage and loss that devastating storms have wreaked upon the Commonwealth this Friday and Saturday,” Kentucky Emergency Management officials posted Saturday morning.
The towns of Somerset and London suffered some of the most intense damage from Friday night’s storms, where local officials have confirmed at least nine deaths and widespread structural damage.
“Multiple fatalities have been confirmed as a result of a tornado that pummeled Laurel County late Friday evening,” Laurel County Fiscal Court posted on Facebook, citing the Laurel-Whitley County Emergency Management Office. “Destroyed homes and buildings are still being searched by emergency responders.”
According to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, the tornado touched down just before midnight and barreled through two neighborhoods and the London Corbin Airport area, “causing mass casualties in its path.” As of this report, at least 12 fatalities have been confirmed in the county while numerous “severe injuries” were reported to others.
Images provided by emergency officials from London shows homes and vehicles completely destroyed.
Photo: Laurel County (Ky) Fiscal Court / FOX Weather
“(My daughter) got scared so we went to the hallway,” a woman named Leslie who survived the storm with her family, told Fox Weather. “And we were in there about two minutes and then my husband came running in and pretty much jumped on top of her because you could feel the air sucking in, and it sounded like a train. And then we saw stuff falling and next thing you knew, most of the house was gone.”
“My family’s OK, I don’t know about everybody else,” she said, adding she saw some of her neighbors had been injured.
Somerset mayor Alan Keck declared a state of emergency in his city as “damage is extensive and loss of life occurred, the extent of which is not fully reported as of this (declaration).”
“It was a really scary night,” Keck told FOX Weather Saturday morning. “This really hit our business community, (the tornado) went right through our commercial corridor. It was a tough night.”
In Missouri, where at least five deaths have been confirmed, St. Louis Mayor called the devastation “truly tremendous” and said an estimated 5,000 buildings were impacted. “The devastation is truly heartbreaking,” she added.
According to PowerOutage.us, the storms left nearly a half million customers without power in dozens of states from Missouri to Maryland.
NEW VIDEO:
London, KY as the sun rises this morning – just a wasteland of rubble after a tornado roared through the Southeastern Kentucky community.#KYwx pic.twitter.com/7yz4OgfImQ— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) May 17, 2025
