A new round of severe weather turned deadly overnight Friday, with multiple tornadoes tearing across the central United States, including one that triggered an urgent and unusual tornado emergency in Illinois.
A devastating wave of severe weather swept across the central United States late Friday into Saturday, killing at least 28 people and injuring dozens more, leaving a trail of catastrophic destruction.
Hard-hit southeast Kentucky is reporting 21 deaths, according to local news WKYT, and the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed dozens of severe injuries after a suspected tornado ripped through homes and buildings late Friday night.
Images emerging at first light on Saturday from 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 thrown everywhere, and furniture strewn about.
“She got scared so we went to the hallway and we were in there maybe two minutes because it is 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.”
On Saturday morning, emergency crews were still searching the wreckage for survivors and assessing the extent of the damage.
“We lift up those whose lives were tragically cut short by the tornado’s fury, as well as those who were injured,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root told WVLT. “Strengthen the hands of rescuers and inspire compassion in the hearts of communities near and far to offer aid in support.”
Just after midnight, the National Weather Service reported a radar-confirmed “large, extremely dangerous” tornado moving through lower Kentucky.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 700,000 homes and businesses in 12 states lost power during the outbreak, with Missouri and Kentucky being particularly hard hit. As of Saturday morning, approximately 650,000 customers in ten states were without power, including Michigan, where nearly 160,000 remained without power following severe weather on Thursday night.
7 killed in St. Louis area after a tornado-warned storm tore through city
The same storm system spawned large, destructive tornadoes in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. Seven people were killed in the St. Louis area earlier Friday evening when a tornado warning storm moved through the city.
Several buildings in St. Louis were damaged, including the Centennial Christian Church. According to City of St. Louis Fire Department Battalion Chief William Pollihan, three people had to be rescued after a portion of the church collapsed, one of whom died.
“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 Associated Press. “A lot of people were caught outside.”
Randle said he spent the storm in the basement of the St. Louis Art Museum with his girlfriend and approximately 150 other people.
The Saint Louis Zoo announced Saturday that it would remain closed due to storm damage, but that all 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,” Cara Spencer, the mayor of St. Louis, posted on Facebook. Spencer continued: “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 reported.
Thank you. In the coming days, we will have numerous opportunities to assist and much work to complete. But for tonight, please stay at home and let our first responders do their work. Please keep St. Louis in your thoughts and prayers.
Spencer said an overnight curfew was in effect Friday in the most damaged neighborhoods, and the city was preparing to declare an emergency.
“Basically every window” in the city’s firehouse was “blown out” by the storm, St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson told CNN. The storm damaged around 20 square blocks of the city. According to Jenkerson, approximately 500 first responders searched buildings for survivors on Friday night and Saturday. “This is going to be a very exhausting and extensive search pattern right now.”
The Red Cross said it has opened several shelters throughout St. Louis in case people need a place to stay in the aftermath of the storm.
“Very terrifying,” Gina Gooch told AccuWeather after surviving a tornado that hit 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 struck the town shortly after crossing Interstate 55 during the Friday evening commute. AccuWeather Storm Chaser and Meteorologist Tony Laubach was only a few hundred yards away as it ejected debris into the sky as it swirled across the highway.
The tornado-warned storm passed near the intersection of Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky before tracking over Paducah, Kentucky, early Friday evening.
A rare tornado warning was issued near Creal Springs, Illinois, in the state’s southern region, as a violent thunderstorm passed through around 6:30 p.m. CDT. “Flying debris can be fatal to those caught without shelter. The emergency alert stated that “mobile homes will be destroyed.”
Farther east, a cluster of severe thunderstorms rumbled across the mid-Atlantic, prompting a tornado warning for downtown Baltimore shortly before 6 p.m. EDT, though it has yet to be confirmed whether a tornado actually struck the city.
In addition to the thunderstorms, gusty winds whipped up dust from newly plowed farmland across Illinois, resulting in a dust storm that swept through the Chicago area. On Friday evening, visibility at Chicago’s Midway airport plummeted to less than a quarter mile, accompanied by wind gusts of up to 60 mph.
According to FlightAware, weather contributed to some of the more than 3,000 flight delays at thunderstorm-impacted airports on Friday. This had a ripple effect across the country, causing delays at some airports even when the weather was clear.
Severe weather will threaten the same areas again early next week, with damaging storms and tornadoes expected across the central United States on Monday and Tuesday.