Residents of Kentucky and Missouri combed through tornado-ravaged neighborhoods Sunday, still bracing for more severe weather after storms across the Midwest and South claimed more than two dozen lives.
Kentucky bore the brunt, with a devastating tornado leveling hundreds of homes, tossing vehicles and leaving many homeless – at least 19 dead, mostly in southeastern Laurel County.
The National Weather Service warned of a “multi-day” onslaught of heavy rain, thunderstorms and possible tornadoes sweeping the nation’s midsection starting Sunday, with Kentucky facing heightened risks Monday and Tuesday.
In London, Kentucky, Jeff Wyatt’s home of 17 years was destroyed along with much of his neighborhood. Wyatt, his wife and two children survived by sheltering in a hallway as the roof and family room were ripped away. On Sunday, they returned to salvage photos, baby blankets and treasured keepsakes amid the rubble.
“It happened so fast,” said Wyatt, 54. “If we would have been there 10 seconds longer, we would have been gone with the family room.”
The storms were part of a weather system Friday that killed seven in Missouri and two in northern Virginia, authorities said. The system spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, brought punishing heat to Texas and temporarily enveloped parts of Illinois – including Chicago – in a pall of dust.
In St. Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer said five people died, 38 were injured and more than 5,000 homes were affected. A tornado struck in Scott County, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) south of St. Louis, killing two people, injuring several others and destroying multiple homes, Sheriff Derick Wheatley wrote on social media.
Parts of Missouri and Kansas could see severe thunderstorms, golf ball-sized hail and wind gusts up to 60 mph (97 kph) into Monday, the weather service said.
In London, Kentucky, Ryan VanNorstran huddled with his brother’s large dogs in a first-floor closet as the storm hit his brother’s home Friday in a neighborhood where much of the destruction in the community of nearly 8,000 people occurred.
VanNorstran, who was house-sitting, said the house was shaking. A door from another house crashed through a window, then all the windows blew out and his car was destroyed. Chunks of wood had punched through several parts of the roof, but the house avoided catastrophic damage.
When he stepped outside he heard “a lot of screaming.”
“I’d never really felt that kind of power from just nature,” he said. “And so I was in there and I was just kind of thinking, it’s either gonna take me or it’s all gonna be all right.”
Survey teams were being dispatched so the state can apply for federal disaster assistance, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said.
Beshear announced the 19th storm victim Sunday, identifying her as an adult woman from Russell County. He said 10 people were hospitalized for injuries, three of them in critical condition. He also touted fundraising efforts on X to help with funeral expenses and rebuilding.
About 1,200 tornadoes strike the U.S. annually, and they have been reported in all 50 states over the years. Researchers found in 2018 that deadly tornadoes were happening less frequently in the traditional “Tornado Alley” of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas and more frequently in parts of the more densely populated and tree-filled mid-South.
The latest storms hit after the Trump administration cut staffing at National Weather Service offices, with outside experts worried about how it would affect warnings in disasters such as tornadoes.
The office in Jackson, Kentucky, which is responsible for the area around London, had a March 2025 vacancy rate of 25%; the Louisville, Kentucky, weather service staff was down 29%; and the St. Louis office was down 16%, according to calculations by weather service employees obtained by The Associated Press. As of March, the Louisville office was also without a permanent meteorologist in charge, according to staffing data.
Experts said any vacancy rate above 20% is a critical problem.
