Latest news with #emergencyHousing
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Residents dig out after severe storms kill 27 in Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia
LONDON, Kentucky — Residents in Kentucky and Missouri sifted through damage in tornado-stricken neighborhoods and cleared debris Sunday after severe storms swept through parts of the Midwest and South and killed more than two dozen people. Kentucky was hardest hit as a devastating tornado damaged hundreds of homes, tossed vehicles and left many homeless. At least 18 people were killed, most of them in southeastern Laurel County. Ten more people were critically injured with state leaders saying the death toll could still rise. 'We are hard at work this morning addressing the tragic damage and deaths caused by severe weather,' Gov. Andy Beshear posted on X Sunday morning. 'We are securing emergency housing options and looking into sites for intermediate housing.' The latest Kentucky storms were part of a weather system Friday that killed seven in Missouri and two in northern Virginia, authorities said. The system also spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, brought punishing heat to Texas and temporarily enveloped parts of Illinois — including Chicago — in a pall of dust on an otherwise sunny day. 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 along Keavy Road where much of the destruction in the community of nearly 8,000 people was centered. VanNorstran was house-sitting. He said he felt the house shake as he got in the closet. Then a door from another house crashed through a window. All the windows blew out of the house 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 guess in the moment, I kind of realized there was nothing I could do. 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 expected on the ground in Kentucky on Monday so the state can apply for federal disaster assistant, Beshear said. Parts of two dozen state roads were closed, and some could take days to reopen, he said. 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. In St. Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer said five people died, 38 were injured and more than 5,000 homes were affected. 'The devastation is truly heartbreaking,' she said at a news conference Saturday. A tornado struck in Scott County, about 130 miles south of St. Louis, killing two people, injuring several others and destroying multiple homes, Sheriff Derick Wheetley wrote on social media. The storms hit after the Trump administration massively cut staffing of National Weather Service offices, with outside experts worrying about how it would affect warnings in disasters such as tornadoes. The office in Jackson, Kentucky, which was responsible for the area around London, Kentucky, 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. The Louisville office was also without a permanent boss, the meteorologist in charge, as of March, according to the staffing data. Experts said any vacancy rate above 20% is a critical problem.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
At least 18 dead in Kentucky, nearly 200,000 left without power after weekend storms
Kentucky's governor announced the state would look into emergency housing options after storms and severe weather killed at least 18 people in Kentucky. "We are hard at work this morning addressing the tragic damage and deaths caused by severe weather Saturday morning," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear wrote in a post on the social media site X. "We are securing emergency housing options and looking into sites for intermediate housing." On May 16, Beshear declared a state of emergency due to a weather system that was moving across the state. All 18 confirmed killed were adults, ranging in age from 25 to 74, according to the Kentucky Governor's Office's press release. Some of the victims' ages have not been disclosed, and only a few have been named publicly. At least another five deaths are suspected. Most of the victims lived in Laurel County, but one person, a female whose age was not disclosed, lived in Pulaski County, which is around 133 miles southeast of Louisville, Kentucky. Laurel County is around 150 miles southeast of Louisville. Seven deaths were also reported in Missouri, while two were reported in Virginia, according to USA TODAY's previous reporting. USA TODAY has contacted the Kentucky Governor's Office for more information. On May 17, more than 69,000 people were left without power, according to Beshear. Immediately after the storm, however, that figure had jumped to over 172,000. The number has since shrunk down to 26,517 as of May 18, according to USA TODAY data. As of 10:30 a.m. ET, around 194,455 outages are being reported throughout five states, including Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Alabama and Arkansas, according to USA TODAY's data. The severe weather was not isolated to Kentucky. Preliminary reports of tornadoes were also made in the following states: Missouri Illinois Indiana New Jersey Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, Zac Anderson; USA TODAY Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. Connect with her on LinkedIn, X, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@ (This is a developing story and will be updated.) This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 18 dead in Kentucky after severe storms hit states across country
