At least 21 people are dead in Kentucky and Missouri on Saturday after a night of severe weather and tornadoes battered cities large and small across the two states, with officials warning the death toll is likely to rise. At least 14 people have been killed in Kentucky while seven have been reported dead in Missouri, according to state officials.

Several people were killed and dozens more injured as powerful tornadoes and severe storms ripped across Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky and even parts of the Washington, D.C. metro area.

Authorities in Kentucky expect the death toll of 14 to increase as they continue to search the ravaged areas. Nine of the dead were in Laurel County, where a tornado hit just before midnight on May 16, the sheriff's office said. Many more were injured there.

The storms Friday afternoon tore roofs off buildings, blew out windows, ripped bricks off siding and yanked up trees and power lines.

At least 27 people have died in Kentucky and seven more were killed in Missouri -- five of them in the St. Louis area.

Powerful storms and tornadoes tore through Midwestern and Southern states overnight Friday, leaving carnage and flattened buildings in their wake.

Mercy Chefs, a Virginia-based disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization, is responding to the devastating tornadoes in Kentucky and Missouri.

The North Carolina-based organization said two U.S. Disaster Relief units, which include tractor-trailers filled with relief supplies and equipment, have been deployed to Laurel County, Kentucky, and St.

Residents in Kentucky and Missouri sifted through damage in tornado-stricken neighbourhoods, still on edge on Sunday (May 18, 2025) for more severe weather ahead after storms that killed more than two dozen people as they swept through parts of the Midwest and South.

I’d be surprised if we didn’t see some tornadoes,” one meteorologist said. More than 300,000 are still without power after storms Thursday night.