Deadly tornado outbreak leaves at least 21 dead across Kentucky, Missouri

[mystery-ak]

Updated May 17, 2025 8:31am EDT

Deadly tornado outbreak leaves at least 21 dead across Kentucky, Missouri

So far, at least 14 people have died in Kentucky and seven more were killed in Missouri -- five of them in the St. Louis area. And more severe weather, including tornadoes, is forecast in the coming days.

By Scott Sistek Source FOX Weather

LONDON, Ky. - A tornado outbreak swept across the Ohio Valley Friday night, leaving at least 21 dead and rescue crews frantically searching neighborhoods left in ruins for any other survivors.

So far, at least 14 people have died in Kentucky, according to Gov. Andy Beshar, and seven more have been killed in Missouri -- five of them in the St. Louis area.

Some of the hardest hit towns by large tornadoes Friday night in Kentucky were the Somerset area and London, where local officials reported nine people died amid significant damage.

The Laurel County Sheriff's Office says the tornado touched down in London just before midnight and tore through two neighborhoods and the London Corbin Airport area, "causing mass casualties in its path." Aside from the nine dead, officials reported "numerous severe injuries occurred to others."

more
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/deadly-tornado-outbreak-ohio-valley-kentucky-missouri-indiana

[mystery-ak]

This storm was really scary...we had several funnel clouds all around us, luckily none of them touched down.  The high winds took several trees in the neighborhood...we just had all of our large trees cut down so it wouldn't happen to us....

[mountaineer]

This tore into some neighborhoods in the STL area where I used to live. The photos are shocking.

[mystery-ak]

This tore into some neighborhoods in the STL area where I used to live. The photos are shocking.

I know..Mike said it was close to Forest Park..a lot of old beautiful homes..

[mountaineer]

I've read the tornado touched down in Clayton, Mo., which is one of the places I lived. My old church is right on the edge of Forest Park - haven't been able to find out whether it was damaged.

[mystery-ak]

Here's a little info...

https://www.ksdk.com/article/weather/weather-impact/st-louis-tornado-warning-water-friday-hail-severe-storms/63-95deb2d7-252d-4632-9e3a-e17684c1a29d


try searching the church to see if they put out any info.

[Sighlass]

Just had 7 tornado warnings in our area 25-30 mile radius.... It will be morning before we know if anyone died.. I am tired now, goodnight.

[Hoodat]

Here's some near me, @Sighlass .  Fortunately, no fatalities.  Hope your area fared well.

https://twitter.com/Rseat4/status/1924998128865784065

https://twitter.com/andrewgwin/status/1924972341391434194

https://twitter.com/ColbyMorrell/status/1924969222179856807

[mountaineer]

try searching the church to see if they put out any info.

According to this Wikipedia description of the storm system, my old church was damaged.

The tornado then entered the City of St. Louis, damaging the Memorial Presbyterian Church and snapping more trees in the Wydown/Skinker neighborhood before causing additional widespread tree damage as it clipped Forest Park and the Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood. The tornado began to intensify quickly and reached EF2 intensity as it struck DeBaliviere Place. It heavily damaged multiple apartment buildings, damaged homes, shattered windows, and snapped and uprooted numerous trees. In the Central West End and Academy neighborhoods, more homes, churches, mid-rise buildings, traffic lights, power poles, and trees were heavily damaged.

Will try to find photos. I understand much of the slate roof was blown off. That part of town, including the CWE, was kind of my old stompin' ground. 

[Sighlass]

Here's some near me, @Sighlass .  Fortunately, no fatalities.  Hope your area fared well.

Yes, No Fatalities here as far as I can garner from local newspaper, some power out and some roads closed. I did get to see my first tornado last night in the skies as it crossed over the valley via the near constant lightning making it visible when backlit... It seemed surreal. @Hoodat .... The mountains make it very hard to photograph here so tornado video is often hard to get locally. The best footage of the big F5 tornado in 2011 was from a neighboring mountain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCBCTIHTzPw

My son is dating one of the girls who had their home destroyed in that 2011 storm. It leaves a scar on a community.

More in depth video on the 2011 tornado...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9VFN926Of4

[mystery-ak]

Well Illinois is now part of Tornado Alley...we are having severe storms at least twice a week.

Yesterday tornadoes were spotted less than a mile away...very very scary....I'll take 12" of snow any day.

[Sighlass]

Well Illinois is now part of Tornado Alley...we are having severe storms at least twice a week.

Yesterday tornadoes were spotted less than a mile away...very very scary....I'll take 12" of snow any day.

Can't argue against that, sure seems Illinois has been hit with some mean storms this year time and time again. Personally yall can have all our tornadoes if you want them.

[Sighlass]

Some famous Tornado chaser to me crossed the line by driving right into a tornado locally.... like he has a death wish....

Reed Timmer and his crew is on drugs is all I can imagine. Either that or they are just willing to die for views on Youtube.

About 2:13 is good place to start video...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9AFvmO1u_Q

[catfish1957]

DEI madness again at its worst. 

St. Louis' mayor put head of their Emergency Mgt. Unit (Sarah Russell) is put on admin leave after Tornado Sirens fail to go off after last weeks EF-3 tornado kills 5.  System required manual activation, and all CEMA reps were at a workshop.

From her record it appears she was fired from a brewery before landing this gig

[mountaineer]

I think we can guess which segment of "Diversity" she represents.

... The investigation looks into why the CEMA staff, including Russell, were not in the office during the anticipated storms. Instead, they were attending a workshop at another downtown location, which left them unable to activate the sirens from the office.

Russell contacted the fire department to activate the sirens, but unclear communication led to nobody sounding the sirens. Mayor Spencer’s office released audio of the call between Russell and a fire department dispatcher, highlighting the ambiguity in the directive to activate the sirens.

Additionally, upon investigating, the button to sound sirens at the fire department was not working as expected during Tuesday’s testing. Spencer noted that there will be an additional external investigation.  ...

KTVI, FOX St. Louis

[mountaineer]

Couple lost opposite arms while holding each other as tornado ripped apart home
    WLEX via CNN Newsource
 May 21, 2025
Updated 18 hrs ago

LONDON, Ky. (WLEX) – A husband and wife in Kentucky both lost an arm when a powerful tornado tore through their home in London on Friday.

Taylor Baker and Brandy Bowman, the couple’s nieces, say Paul and Gail Cline were holding hands during the storm.

“The doctors said that where they lost opposite arms is because they were, like, holding each other,” Baker said. ...
More

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1925567957674959246

[mountaineer]

"They" are hard at work on keeping St. Louis safe (this was the CEMA booth at a Pride festival).

[berdie]

Couple lost opposite arms while holding each other as tornado ripped apart home
    WLEX via CNN Newsource
 May 21, 2025
Updated 18 hrs ago

LONDON, Ky. (WLEX) – A husband and wife in Kentucky both lost an arm when a powerful tornado tore through their home in London on Friday.

Taylor Baker and Brandy Bowman, the couple’s nieces, say Paul and Gail Cline were holding hands during the storm.

“The doctors said that where they lost opposite arms is because they were, like, holding each other,” Baker said. ...
More

What a fluke. And very sad to boot.

[mountaineer]

May 23, 2025
Non-binary St Louis emergency management chief on leave after not sounding tornado alarm—which didn't work anyway—leaving 5 dead
Russell, who was away, contacted the fire department to sound the alarm. A probe revealed that "the direction was not clear," and the button at the fire station, which was later found to be out of order, was not pressed.
Katie Daviscourt
The Post Millennial

A Missouri emergency management chief has been placed on leave after tornado warning sirens failed to be activated during last week's severe weather incident that resulted in the deaths of five people. Sarah Russell, commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) in St. Louis, was not at the CEMA building to activate the alert system when the National Weather Service indicated that a tornado had touched down. Instead, Russell gave an ambiguous order to the Fire Department to activate the button. It was later determined that the button was never pressed, nor did it work, authorities said.

The CEMA main building and the Fire Department both have tornado alert buttons that are meant to activate a system of 60 outdoor sirens stationed around St. Louis. Investigators said the button at CEMA worked. St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer ordered a probe into the siren failure immediately after the incident, which resulted in Russell being placed on administrative leave Tuesday.

According to Spencer's office, the commissioner was at an off-site workshop with emergency management staff about a half mile away from the main building when the NWS issued the tornado warning, CBS News reported. Russell contacted the Fire Department to activate the sirens, but did not provide a clear directive, the mayor said.

In the call recording released by the mayor's office, Russell briefly mentioned being aware of the NWS warning and asked a person at the fire department, "OK, you got the sirens?" The person replied, "Yes, ma'am," and the call ended.

"The direction was not clear," Spencer said at a Wednesday press conference, adding, "It's my understanding that the button was not pushed." Even if the button was pushed, city officials learned Tuesday that it was out of commission. ...

What? Me worry?

[Hoodat]

https://twitter.com/TheKevinDalton/status/1925582046510162116

[Smokin Joe]

Those sirens should have been tested at least weekly. Ability to activate them from remote sites should have been verified regularly.

No excuses, really. Small staff (presumably in numbers, not stature), small office should not be an issue.

[Sighlass]

Those sirens should have been tested at least weekly. Ability to activate them from remote sites should have been verified regularly.

No excuses, really. Small staff (presumably in numbers, not stature), small office should not be an issue.

Tested Monthly here, unless the weather is bad already (so not to give folks idea it is a tornado at the wrong time)...