What to Know About the Tornadoes That Ripped Through the Central U.S.

New York Times

18-05-2025

Another fierce storm system hit the central United States this weekend, devastating many communities that are still reeling from severe weather just weeks ago.
On Friday night, a series of tornadoes tore through the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, killing at least 27 and injuring dozens more. Kentucky and Missouri were hit particularly hard, with 25 deaths occurring there.
The storms are the latest deadly chapter in an especially brutal spring. In April, similar storms caused deadly flooding and more destruction, also hitting Kentucky and Missouri. The stretch of inclement weather comes as federal weather and emergency management workers struggle to keep up in the face of recent federal work force cuts.
Here's what to know about this storm system.
'A continuous stream of storms'
This system consisted of supercells, or highly organized, longer-lasting storms that produce stronger winds and larger hail than typical thunderstorms. The supercells then spawned tornadoes beginning Friday afternoon around the system's bull's-eye, which was centered over parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
Government forecasters said on Saturday that a preliminary count showed that 26 tornadoes had touched down, mostly in Indiana and Kentucky. That number pales in comparison with the tornado outbreak during the April storms, which was 107, but officials in the bombarded states said that residents were still dealing with the damage from previous storms.
'We've been under almost a continuous stream of storms,' said Chad Jenkins, the emergency management director for Brown County, Ind., where at least five people were injured. 'It's been a pretty turbulent spring for us.'
Most of the deaths happened in Kentucky.
At least 18 people have been killed in Kentucky since Friday, with 17 in Laurel County and one in Pulaski County, Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference on Saturday. He added that 10 others were in critical condition as of Saturday evening.
One of those killed was a 39-year-old veteran of the Laurel County Fire Department, Major Leslie Leatherman. He was fatally injured during overnight tornado response efforts, according to a statement from the Fire Department.
'This is a heartbreaking reminder of the dangers our first responders face every day and the incredible bravery they show in the face of disaster,' the department said in a social media post.
The town of London, Ky., about 90 miles south of Lexington, was especially distraught. Neighborhoods in the small town near the Appalachians were covered in piles of debris, downed trees and personal items strewed over plots of land. Over the weekend, friends and neighbors surveyed the damage, sifted through the rubble and rescued people who were trapped under the wreckage.
Kentucky has been pummeled in recent years by extreme weather, including several devastating floods, the most recent of which occurred in February. As much as seven inches of rain caused swollen rivers to overflow into communities then, including some that were still reeling from catastrophic floods in 2022, when at least 45 people died.
Two dozen counties across the state had just been approved Wednesday for federal aid. The latest damage will add to an already precarious state of disaster relief efforts, as sweeping staffing and funding cuts have upended the usual processes for receiving assistance from the federal government.
But on Saturday, Governor Beshear, a Democrat, praised the White House and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying they had 'performed well' in response to the recent storms.
'Politics has no place in responding to natural disasters like this one,' he said.
The St. Louis community was devastated.
At least seven people died in Missouri, five of them in St. Louis. Two people were killed in Scott County, in southeastern Missouri, officials said.
In St. Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer said at a news conference on Saturday that she would 'describe this as one of the worst storms' in the city's history. She added that early estimates showed that about 5,000 buildings had sustained damage.
The storm started there around 3 p.m. local time on Friday and damaged an area of about 20 square blocks, according to the city's fire commissioner, Dennis Jenkerson.
Vivian Reed, a caretaker, said she had been looking after a 100-year-old client south of Forest Park all day on Friday. When she arrived home in the evening, branches and debris covered her yard, her grandchildren's play cars had been crushed by trees and windows had been broken.
'One second, it's a beautiful sunny day,' Ms. Reed said. 'And the next second, you look out and see all the devastation.'
Also in the tornado's path was the Centennial Christian Church, where three church members were trapped after the storm destroyed part of the building's steeple. Two people were safely pulled from the wreckage, said the church's pastor, the Rev. Derrick Perkins. But one, a longtime ministry leader, was killed, adding to the community's grief, he said.
In other parts of the country, at least two people died in Virginia as a result of the storms. In both cases, trees fell on the vehicles the people were in, authorities said. And in Indiana, more than a dozen people have been injured by tornadoes.
After a short reprieve, more inclement weather is expected.
For the next day or so, the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions could see a reprieve from severe weather, according to the National Weather Service. On Saturday, the storm system moved east, bringing a smattering of thunderstorms across New England before dissipating.
But a separate storm system could bring more rain and thunderstorms to many of the same states, including Missouri and Kentucky, within the next few days — though at a less intense level.
Still, golf-ball-sized hail and fierce winds could hit the southern Great Plains and parts of southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, including Dallas and Fort Worth.