At least 27 dead after severe storms sweep U.S.

At least 27 dead after severe storms sweep U.S.

LONDON, Ky. — The grassy stretch beside Sunshine Hill Baptist Church’s parking lot was full of downed tree branches, lumber and insulation that could have come from any number of surrounding structures. There were patterned couch cushions, a pair of brown boots, a blue Skechers shoe, cans of paint and a muddy blanket. At the top of the slight hill Saturday afternoon sat a crushed 12-passenger white van.

All that remained of the church was the damaged frame of the basement, full of debris.

That’s a microcosm of the impact severe storms sweeping through the United States have generated. At least 27 people have died, with possible tornadoes touching down in Missouri and Kentucky, and fierce thunderstorms toppling trees onto cars in Virginia.

Eighteen people were killed in Kentucky, according to Gov. Andy Beshear (D). All but one of the deaths came in Laurel County, where a tornado touched down at 11:49 p.m., with “numerous” more suffering severe injuries, the Laurel County Sheriff’s Department said in a social media post on Saturday. The other death occurred in Pulaski County, about 20 miles west of Laurel, Beshear said.

With rescue teams continuing the search for survivors, Beshear said at a news conference Saturday afternoon that the death toll could rise. Five counties have declared a state of emergency — Beshear had declared an emergency for the entire state the day before — and more than 100,000 customers lost power, Beshear said.

Residents inspect their home after a tornado completely tore off the back wall of a two-story house in St. Louis on Friday.

“You cannot only see the destruction but feel it,” Beshear said Saturday.

At the Sunshine Hill Baptist Church in London, which is in Laurel County, Pastor Michael Casada couldn’t find the baptistery, steeple or church bell Saturday afternoon. Someone shared on Facebook that they found a bulletin from the church in Hazard, Kentucky, about 50 miles northeast of the church.

Kristi Parker and her family searched debris near the church for anything that blew across the street, where their house, kennel and part of their garage were destroyed.

Late Friday night, Parker, her fiancé and their two children were sheltering in a relative’s basement when a tornado demolished the top of the house, she said. Parker and her family rushed through pouring rain to find another place to take shelter, she said, until a neighbor let them in and the storms passed.

“I’m still in shock,” Parker said. “I don’t know how to take it in.”

Farther west in Missouri, hundreds of miles from the destruction in Kentucky, five people were killed and 38 were injured in severe weather in St. Louis, city officials said. The National Weather Service in St. Louis said there was a tornado with wind speeds above 140 mph. At a news conference Friday, St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson described a path of destruction that began on a major thoroughfare during afternoon rush hour before moving east over a river into southern Illinois.

About 5,000 buildings were damaged, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said at a news conference Saturday morning, as rescue teams worked to locate missing people and search the debris.

“The devastation is truly heartbreaking,” Spencer said.

More than 100 miles south, Scott County Sheriff Derick Wheetley said a tornado on Friday struck several rural areas in the southern region of the Missouri county, killing two, injuring several more and “leaving behind a trail of destruction, with multiple homes completely lost and areas left unrecognizable.”

In Northern Virginia, a late afternoon storm struck with particular severity in the southern part of Fairfax County and in Alexandria, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses, tearing down power lines and felling trees onto roadways. One motorist was found dead after a tree struck a car, Fairfax County officials said. Another person died on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, according to U.S. Park Police.

Friday’s destruction marked the third-straight day of significant severe weather, with more threats predicted through the weekend. Severe thunderstorms across the Great Lakes region late Thursday had knocked out power to some 284,000 customers as of Saturday morning, with Michigan suffering a large concentration of power loss, according to PowerOutage.us. In Wisconsin, a visibly striking tornado spun through fields in New Richmond, while another caused significant damage in Hammond. In the capital, Madison, a hailstorm dropped hail up to 2 inches in diameter.

On Saturday, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and central and northeast Texas could face large, destructive hail, strong winds and possibly tornadoes. A low pressure system over the Oklahoma Panhandle is expected to prompt rapidly forming thunderstorms.

The National Weather Service has issued tornado and severe storm warnings throughout the region and cautioned that much of Kentucky and parts of Tennessee are also under a slight risk for flooding. The office in Jackson, Kentucky, was among those forced to stop staffing overnight shifts following the U.S. DOGE Service-led efforts to shrink the federal government.

The severe weather risk stretches more than 1,200 miles, with intense storms predicted to reach as far as East Texas to the Mid-Atlantic through the weekend. Thunderstorms with destructive gusts and damaging hail are expected to move to Kansas on Sunday. After this storm system winds down, another is expected to pick up to the west, with strong tornadoes in the forecast by Sunday for parts of the Plains.

Meanwhile in London, Kentucky, on Saturday afternoon, community members helped each other rebuild. A black Jeep Wrangler pulled a trailer full of bottled water and snacks into one neighborhood.

As people who had lost everything worked in the heat to put their lives back together, Derek McClure offered beer to strangers. He said he drove about 100 miles southeast from Hart County because he thought “a beer in the afternoon” would be just what some people needed.

Ho reported from London, Noll from Auckland, New Zealand, and Melnick from Washington. Matthew Cappucci in Little Rock contributed to this report.