The tornado crossed over Kentucky Lake into Lyon County and moved through the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, mowing down a large swath of trees and snapping power poles before crossing Lake Barkley. Paducah, KY8250 Kentucky Highway 3520West Paducah, KY 42086-9762270-744-6440Comments? Continuing northeast, the tornado entered Dawson Springs in far eastern Hopkins County at 10:32 p.m. The Violent Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021 Its path length of 165 miles was the ninth longest tornado path ever recorded in the U.S. Tornado devastation in Mayfield on December 11, 2021. [28], The National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency for Mayfield at 9:26p.m. CST (03:26 UTC) as the now-massive wedge tornado approached the town from the southwest. In all, the tornado covered over 165 miles in about three hours, claiming 57 lives and injuring over 500 people. [26], The tornado reached a peak width of 1.5 miles (2.4km), and was on the ground for nearly three hours, tracking 165.6 miles (266.5km) from Woodland Mills to Rough River Dam State Resort Park. The tornado then took straight aim for the city of Pembroke where significant tree damage was observed along with multiple houses with roof damage. It abruptly intensified to high-end EF4 strength as it crossed and paralleled KY 175 through the north side of town. [20] The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a total of 149 tornado warnings throughout the night across portions of nine states including Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. Structures destroyed: 12, Graves County, KY: Tornado Watch Issued Friday; "I say to all the victims, you're in our prayers.". It's a radar artifact that is usually caused by very large hail. [31][32][29][30] Allegedly, workers' jobs had been threatened if they left the factory between the first and second tornado warnings for the area a tornado warning had been issued earlier that evening at approximately 5:30p.m. CST and then again after the second tornado warning was issued after 9:00p.m. Several outbuildings and mobile homes were also obliterated in the Cayce area. During the second, more intense tornado, peak gate-to-gate velocities of 128mph (206km/h; 111kn) were recorded at 9:58p.m. CST (04:58 UTC) over northeastern Marshall County, Kentucky. The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories: Tornado devastation in Mayfield on December 11, 2021. MAYFIELD, Ky., Dec 11 (Reuters) - At least 100 people were feared dead in Kentucky after a swarm of tornadoes tore a 200-mile path through the U.S. Midwest and South, demolishing homes,. SKYWARN What makes Kentucky's devastating tornadoes so rare Mayfield, with a population of about 10,000, is in Graves County, which borders Tennessee. This time frame coincides with the start of the main tornado, following three weak tornadoes that split the two EF4's paths, implying the supercell underwent a mesocyclone re-strengthening phase during this period. Minor tree damage occurred before the tornado finally dissipated near Park Drive in Grayson County at 11:48p.m. CST (5:48 UTC) as it entered Rough River Dam State Resort Park near Rough River Lake, approximately four miles (6.4km) west of McDaniels. 1159 damaged and 730destroyed Gov. The First Christian Church sustained collapse of its domed roof and upper walls, while the First United Methodist Church's sanctuary, which was constructed with very thick masonry exterior walls, collapsed. Over 3,778 residences, 183 commercial properties, and 103 other buildings were either damaged or totally destroyed, including the county courthouse and the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory. A school bus garage, metal industrial buildings, and apartment buildings also sustained major structural damage or were destroyed in other areas of town. Despite a COVID-19 surge in Kentucky, Beshear said hospitals were in good shape. Evansville, IN No deaths or injuries. "One block from my grandparents' house, there's no house standing," Beshear said. At 5:51p.m. CST, the National Weather Service office in North Little Rock issued the first tornado warning associated with the storm for portions of Jackson, Lawrence, White, and Woodruff counties. A powerful supercell thunderstorm traveled more than 200 miles Friday night, from Arkansas to Kentucky, and likely spawned several large, strong tornadoes across four states. [11] One of the first tornadoes associated with the storm, an EF0, touched down in western Poinsett County (near Weiner) around 6:40p.m. CST; about fifteen minutes later, storm spotters reported a large tornado near Greenfield, prompting a PDS tornado warning for portions of Poinsett, Craighead and Mississippi counties (including areas to the south of Jonesboro). Observations Please Contact Us. (NOAA/NASA), Tornado path across open fields northeast of Highway 116 to Highway 1127 in Fulton County. EF2 damage was noted as it tracked into Graves County, closely paralleling I-69 and US 45 directly toward the city of Mayfield. Chris Phillips/Maverick Media Group, LLC via Reuters. . Structures destroyed: 500 (estimate), Muhlenberg County, KY "This has been the most devastating tornado event in our state's history," Beshear said during a Saturday morning press briefing. Local tornado survivor celebrates newly renovated home in Mayfield Sun 12 Dec 2021 08.32 EST First published on Sun 12 Dec 2021 00.57 EST. It will be a "miracle" if anyone is found alive at this point, he said during a briefing Saturday afternoon. [51] Thousands of large trees were mowed down, and vehicles were flipped. The freight train was carrying hazardous materials, Beshear wrote in his letter asking for a federal emergency declaration. Michael Dossett, director of Kentucky's Division of Emergency Management, compared the storms to the April 1974 outbreak that spawned hundreds of tornadoes across several states and killed more than 30 in Kentucky alone. Research shows 72 of Kentucky's 120 counties are without an OB-GYN Andy Beshear and more than 70 people killed. The western Kentucky town of Mayfield was "ground zero" of the. One person perished near the western shore of Lake Barkley near Eddyville. (NWS Storm Survey), University of Kentucky Research and Education Center south of Princeton. A tale of two loads of Kentucky tornado relief collected, distributed He joined the newspaper in September 2021 after previously working with . Tornado devastation in Bremen on December 13, 2021. University of Kentucky Research and Education Center south of Princeton. [26][56] Damage of up to high-end EF2 intensity occurred beyond this point as the tornado crossed Humble Valley Road, Halls Creek Road, and Mount Vernon Road before passing north of Olaton. Many family residence homes experienced loss of significant roof covering material, collapsed chimneys and garage doors, and walls completely folded with broken windows and shattered glass. A tornado near Hornersville, Missouri, was on the ground at about 8 p.m. local time. (Tomer Burg/Univ. First responders surround a damaged Amazon Distribution Center on Dec. 10, 2021, in Edwardsville, Ill. Items of Interest [25], Farther to the northeast, the tornado reached EF2 strength, tearing roofs off homes, damaging or destroying outbuildings, and damaging irrigation equipment. Emmons found the cat hiding in a dresser drawer. Along the outskirts of the town were small barns or farm outbuildings with collapsed roofs. The White House said Saturday it is in touch with state and local officials and will provide the federal government's "full support as needed. More than 100 people were working at a candle manufacturing plant during the storm, Beshear said, and a roof collapse at the facility resulted in "mass casualties. The tornado scoured multiple trenches into the ground in this area, with all grass and several inches of topsoil removed in the worst affected areas. GUNNAR WORD/AFP via Getty Images A resident of the The Cardinal Inn in Bowling Green, Kentucky, looks at the damage after a tornado touched down on December 11, 2021. [16][17] By the pre-dawn hours of December11, a decrease in instability led to a gradual weakening of a line of thunderstorms stretching along the associated cold front from eastern Kentucky southward into central Alabama. SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) When storms roll in to Scott County, a lot of people think back to the early-morning of December 6, 2021. Once the tornado moved out of Pembroke, two mobile homes were completely Kentucky tornadoes: Death toll from tornadoes rises to 74 | CNN Most of the damage through this section of Marshall County ranged from EF2 to EF3 in intensity, though a few homes to the southwest of Benton were leveled or swept from their foundations at high-end EF3 strength. A mother and her three children survived with relatively minor injuries by hanging on to a mattress as they were thrown 200 feet through the air into a field after the tornado swept their Dawson Springs home from its foundation. I bailed eastward about 15 seconds later", "Tornado Emergency For Earlington and Afton, KY", "Kentucky tornado derails a train in Hopkins County; one car lands on home", "Before and after photos from a newly constructed home in Bremen. Satellite Past Briensburg, EF3 damage was noted along Lowery Road, where a poorly-anchored home was leveled, and a few other homes sustained EF2 damage along this segment of the path. Sorry, the location you searched for was not found. Trees in this area were debarked and denuded, cars were thrown, and mobile homes were obliterated. Deaths: 11 In Madisonville, Kentucky, a train derailment was caused by the storms, though no injuries were reported. Injuries: 25 Regional radar loop across the Lower Ohio and Mississippi River valleys from 6 PM Dec. 10 to 8 AM Dec. 11. December 13, 2021: HQ-21-260: Release Date: . [1] Amazon said emergency safety training in case of tornadoes is given to new employees and repeated throughout the year. The tornado began in Obion County, in northwest Tennessee, and tracked across 11 counties in western Kentucky: Fulton, Hickman, Graves, Marshall, Lyon, Caldwell, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Breckenridge, and Grayson. The concrete foundation was scoured away. More than 80 feared dead after tornadoes hit central and southern US - CNN Numerous homes were completely leveled in Cambridge Shores, including multiple large lakeside homes that were flattened or swept away. The storm traveled over 220 miles from Arkansas into Kentucky. Tornado #3 - EF-1Tornado near Central City, KY. A relatively weak and short-lived tornado occurred on the evening of December 10, 2021,in central Muhlenberg County prior to the larger and more powerful EF-4 tornado in northern parts of the county. [8] Though this activity lacked much vigor at its onset due to a strong capping inversion,[9] the convective cells began to show organization as they progressed eastward. [69] In December 2022, a temporary memorial was placed in the Mayfield court square. It should have shut down':Inside the final frantic hours of the Mayfield candle factory. Soon after, the tornado became violent and directly impacted the small community of Cayce at EF4 intensity, where multiple homes and small businesses were damaged or destroyed, with some that were leveled or swept clean from their foundations. William Widmer for The New York Times. Outlooks Its 165.7 mile long path length was on the longest for a tornado in U.S. history. Even counties that weren't hit by tornadoes were impacted by storms. ABC News' Victoria Arancio, Ahmad Hemingway, Matt Foster, Hope Osemwenkhae and Matthew Vann contributed to this report. (NWS Storm Survey), Ground level view of the destruction in downtown Mayfield. [45] 14 people were killed in the Dawson Springs area, and many others were injured. 2021 Western Kentucky tornado A long-tracked wedge spawned by the Quad-State supercell, that damaged, destroyed, or obliterated thousands of structures along a path of 165.6 miles (266.5 km) while moving at 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). NOAA Climate Service, LOCAL INFORMATION Tornado path through an open field south of Hodge Road in Hickman County. Damage to several homes in a neighborhood at the Princeton County Club. [41] Damage continued through the Briensburg community at EF2 intensity, where homes sustained partial to total roof loss, outbuildings were damaged or destroyed, and a metal truss tower collapsed. The tornado moved into Hickman County and appeared to intensify dramatically as it crossed US 51, where extreme ground scouring occurred in nearby fields. Around 10:55 p.m. the tornado left Hopkins County and entered Muhlenberg County, reaching the small community of Bremen at 11:00 p.m. Several homes experienced catastrophic EF-4 damage here. The Two other buildings were also heavily damaged along with multiple silos destroyed. The tornado slightly weakened and moved northeast toward Paris Landing and eventually crossed the Tennessee River. More than 80 feared dead after tornadoes hit central and southern US | CNN 66 damaged and 37 destroyed, Marshall County, KY: "[73] On December 17, it was reported that multiple workers at the candle factory filed a lawsuit against Mayfield Consumer Products in state court, seeking compensation and punitive damages. . With a confirmed death toll of 57, it was the deadliest single tornado in the United States since the Joplin, Missouri tornado on May 22, 2011, ten years earlier. (NWS Storm Survey). Thetornado initially produced EF-1 damage but while progressing northeast, it continued to strengthen to EF3 as it approached Dresden, TN. Forecasters indicated that atmospheric conditions favored the development of nocturnal supercells capable of producing long-tracked, strong tornadoes.[6]. Kentucky likely saw its deadliest tornado system ever, the governor said. . Mon 13 Dec 2021 05.26 EST Last modified on Mon 13 Dec 2021 07.51 EST. Its. South of Earlington, the tornado derailed a train, moving several rail cars several feet up an embankment next to the railroad tracks. The tornado again reached EF4 intensity as it tore directly through the small community of Cambridge Shores, located along the western shore of Kentucky Lake. It then intensified again as it approached and crossed the Marshall County line before moving through the northwestern and northern outskirts of Benton, damaging or destroying many homes, garages, and outbuildings, downing numerous trees and power lines, and flipping RV campers. widespread and severe damage in Stewart County was between Indian Branch and Morgan Branch, to the south of Bumpus Mills. [1] A later 58th fatality was the result of a heart attack while clearing debris and is listed as indirect. Around 10:55 p.m. the tornado left Hopkins County and entered Muhlenberg County, reaching the small community of Bremen at 11:00 p.m. Several homes experienced catastrophic EF-4 damage here.