21 dead, half a million without power as deadly storms, tornadoes sweep across Central, Eastern US
A new round of severe weather turned deadly overnight Friday with multiple tornadoes tearing across the central United States, including one that prompted an urgent and rare tornado emergency in Illinois.
A dangerous tornado swept through parts of Kentucky on May 16 leaving behind a path of complete destruction.
At least 21 people have died and dozens more were injured after a devastating wave of severe weather swept across the central United States late Friday into Saturday, leaving a trail of catastrophic destruction.
Fourteen deaths are being reported in southeastern Kentucky, according to the Laurel County Sheriff's office, which said a tornado caused numerous severe injuries as it shredded homes and buildings late Friday night.
London, Kentucky at dawn on Saturday morning. (Image credit: Brandon Clement/Wx Chasing)
Images emerging at first light on Saturday from the town of London, about 75 miles south of Lexington, show entire neighborhoods razed, with homes reduced to piles of shredded wood and debris, downed power lines, cars tossed all over the place and furniture strewn everywhere.
"She got scared so we went to the hallway and we were in there maybe two minutes because it's the only closed in area we have and my husband and son come running in and pretty much jumped on top of her because you could feel the air and everything sucking and it sounded like a train," Laurel County resident Leslie Bott told reporters as she sat in one of her family's destroyed cars with her daughter. "We saw stuff falling and next thing you knew he said most of the house was gone."
Emergency crews were still searching the wreckage for survivors and assessing the full extent of the damage on Saturday morning.
“We lift up those lives who were tragically cut short by the fury of the tornado and those who have been injured,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root told local news, WVLT. “Strengthen the hands of rescuers and inspire compassion in the hearts of communities near and far to offer aid in support.”
The National Weather Service reported a radar-confirmed, “large, extremely dangerous” tornado moving through lower Kentucky shortly after midnight.
More than 700,000 homes and businesses across 12 states lost power during the outbreak, according to PowerOutage.us, with Missouri and Kentucky hit hardest. As of Saturday morning, around 650,000 customers across 10 states had no power, including Michigan where nearly 160,000 are still without power after severe weather on Thursday night.
7 killed in St. Louis area after a tornado-warned storm tore through city
It was a wild start of the weekend for severe weather in Missouri on May 16. A deadly tornado tore through the city of Benton causing downed trees, power lines and storm debris flung everywhere.
The same storm system triggered large, destructive tornadoes across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Seven people were killed in the St Louis area earlier Friday evening after a tornado-warned storm moved through the city.
Multiple buildings were damaged in St. Louis, including Centennial Christian Church. The City of St. Louis Fire Department Battalion Chief William Pollihan told The Associated Press that three people had to be rescued after part of the church crumbled, with one of those people dying.
“You could see the doors flying open, tree branches flying by and people running,” 19-year-old University of Missouri-St. Louis student John Randle told The AP. “A lot of people were caught outside.”
Randle said he rode out the storm in the basement of the St. Louis Art Museum with his girlfriend and about 150 other people.
The Saint Louis Zoo said it would remain closed Saturday because of storm damage, but told The AP all the animals were safe.
"The loss of life and destruction St. Louis has experienced in today’s storm is horrendous, and my thoughts are with everyone whose lives were altered today," St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said in a post on X, adding, "Our first responders and community are stepping up in tremendous ways to save lives, help those who are injured, provide shelter, and so much more," she said. Thank you. In the coming days, we will have a lot of opportunities to help and much work to do. But for tonight - Please stay home tonight and allow our first responders to do their work. And please keep St. Louis in your thoughts and prayers."
Spencer said an overnight curfew was in effect Friday in the neighborhoods with the most damage and that the city was in the process of declaring an emergency.
“Basically every window” in the city’s firehouse was “blown out” by the storm, St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson, told CNN of the storm, which damaged around 20 square blocks of the city. About 500 first responders spent Friday night into Saturday searching buildings for survivors, Jenkerson said. “This is going to be a very exhausting and extensive search pattern right now."
The Red Cross said it has opened several shelters across St. Louis if people need a place to stay in the wake of the storms.
"Very terrifying," Gina Gooch told AccuWeather after she rode out a tornado that struck the small town of Blodgett, Missouri, about 120 miles southeast of St. Louis. "I went into this little pantry because I have no basement, and all I could hear was trees crashing down."
The tornado hit the town just after tracking across Interstate 55 during the Friday evening commute. AccuWeather Storm Chaser and Meteorologist Tony Laubach was just a few hundred yards away as it lofted debris into the sky as it swirled across the highway.
The tornado-warned storm passed near the meeting point of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky before eventually tracking over Paducah, Kentucky, early Friday evening.
A tornado throwing debris in the air just before tracking over Interstate 55 near Blodgett, Missouri. (AccuWeather/Tony Laubach)
A rare tornado emergency was issued near Creal Springs, Illinois, in the southern part of the state, as a violent thunderstorm moved through around 6:30 p.m. CDT. "Flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be destroyed," the emergency alert stated.
Farther east, a cluster of severe thunderstorms rumbled across the mid-Atlantic with a tornado warning being issued for downtown Baltimore shortly before 6 p.m. EDT, although it has yet to be confirmed if a tornado did strike the city.
At least four fatalities and 10 injuries were reported due to tornadoes that tore through Missouri on the evening of May 16. The severe weather threat will continue throughout the evening.
In addition to the thunderstorms, gusty winds kicked up dust from freshly plowed farmland across Illinois, which caused a dust storm that swept through the Chicago area. Visibility plummeted to just 1/4 of a mile at Chicago's Midway airport on Friday evening, accompanied by wind gusts up to 60 mph.
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Weather contributed to some of the more than 3,000 flight delays at airports directly impacted by thunderstorms on Friday, according to FlightAware. This had a ripple effect across the country, causing disruptions at some airports where the weather was clear.
Severe weather will threaten the same areas again early in the upcoming week with destructive storms and tornadoes in the forecast across the central U.S. on Monday and Tuesday.
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