OAN Staff James Meyers
10:17 AM – Saturday, May 17, 2025
Severe storms that hit parts of the Midwest and the South have killed at least 21 people, including nine people in Kentucky after a deadly tornado wreaked havoc in the state.
The massive storms that hit on Friday also killed seven in Missouri while conjuring tornadoes in Wisconsin, leaving thousands of people without power in the Great Lakes area as Texas was hit by a massive heat wave.
Laurel County, Kentucky, resident Chris Cromer was just thankful that he and his family are still alive after the chaos ensued from the devastating tornado.
“We could hear and feel the vibration of the tornado coming through,” said Cromer, 46.
“His home is intact, though a piece of the roof got ripped off and windows were broken. A house two doors down is destroyed, along with others in the Sunshine Hills neighborhood,” he said.
“It’s one of those things that you see on the news in other areas, and you feel bad for people — then, when it happens, it’s just surreal,” he said, describing a landscape of destruction. “It makes you be thankful to be alive, really.”
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said that emergency personnel were “on the ground all night looking for possible survivors,” and that the search was going to continue into the morning.
Meanwhile, an emergency shelter was set up at a local high school and donations of food and other emergency essentials were arriving.
This is just the latest major storm to cause death and destruction in the Bluegrass State. In March, at least another 24 people died in another round of storms that flooded creeks and roads. This prompted hundreds to be rescued, with most of the deaths being caused by vehicles getting stuck in high water.
Additionally, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer confirmed five deaths in the city and said over 5,000 homes were affected by the storms.
“This is truly, truly devastating,” Spencer said. An overnight curfew was imposed Friday in the neighborhoods with the most damage.
The number of people injured was not immediately clear. A local hospital received in the range of 20 to 30 patients from the storm, with some placed in serious condition and most were expected to be discharged on Friday night, according to hospital spokesperson Laura High.
A tornado struck in Scott County, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) south of St. Louis, killing two people, injuring several others and destroying multiple homes, Sheriff Derick Wheetley wrote on social media.
According to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center’s website, they are expecting severe thunderstorms, massive hail and tornadoes are expected to strike across the southern Plains, and north Texas has been placed as an especially high risk.
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