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Tornado warnings issued in South after storm rolls through Kentucky, killing 1

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia on Friday, hours after a harsh storm hit a remote area of central Kentucky, killing one person and injuring at least 14 more, officials said.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear wrote on social media that one person was killed and at least 14 injured when a “reported tornado” struck Washington County.

Beshear said that three adults and a child were still hospitalized, while 10 others were treated and released.

In an earlier news conference, Washington County Sheriff’s officials also said that the area appeared to have been struck by a tornado.

Washington County Judge-executive Timothy Graves said two or three houses were destroyed and downed trees temporarily blocked roads.

“We were fortunate this was located in a remote part of the county,” Graves said.

Debris and heavy damage are seen from severe weather, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Springfield, Ky.

Michael Swensen / AP


Beshear canceled a visit planned for Friday to Pulaski and Laurel counties, which were hit by a tornado earlier this month. That storm left 19 dead in the state.

“This level of severe weather was unexpected, with a system still moving through the state,” Beshear wrote. “We also expect to see additional storms today with Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky facing a risk of more severe weather. Please be alert this morning and stay safe.”

The National Weather Service’s office in Louisville, Kentucky, said a crew surveying damage Friday in Washington County was following a damage path that may enter neighboring Mercer County. By midday, the crew had found “at least” EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tornado damage in southwestern Washington County, the office said in a social media post.

Three of the injured people were taken to University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. County Emergency Management Director Kevin Devine said the county was not expecting harsh weather Friday morning.

In a social media post, the sheriff’s office asked people to stay home to allow emergency workers to do their jobs.

In Tennessee, multiple people were injured when severe weather hit the Philadelphia area of Loudon County, on Friday morning, the county sheriff’s office said in a social media post. The weather service’s office in Morristown later preliminarily confirmed in a social media post that an EF0 tornado struck near the border of Loudon and Monroe counties.

Also on Friday, National Weather Service surveyors said a Thursday afternoon tornado near Atlanta reached top wind speeds estimated at 135 mph, throwing the son of actor Tray Chaney nearly 300 feet from the second-floor window of his home and leaving him with critical injuries.

The storm, rated EF2, damaged about a dozen houses in a subdivision in Locust Grove, about 30 miles southeast of the city. Residents told news outlets they had no advance warning of the twister, which meteorologists said dropped out of a thunderstorm that had showed weak and broad rotation. The tornado was on the ground for 5 minutes, covering 1.8 miles.

Along one street, the tornado ripped off siding and shingles, blowing out windows. Damage was worst at the Chaney home, which was destroyed except for one interior closet on the first floor where clothes were still hanging.

Malachi Chaney, the son, was found in nearby woods and taken to an Atlanta hospital. Tray Chaney, best known for his role on “The Wire,” said his son remained hospitalized in intensive care on Friday, with injuries including broken ribs and fractured bones in his face. Tray Chaney said he suffered a bruise on the head. In a video recorded shortly thereafter, Chaney said he wished he could trade places with his son, who just completed his freshman year at Savannah State University.

“I wish he was the one that was doing the video, and I was still in the ICU,” Tray Chaney said.

It was the third round of tornadoes in northern Georgia this week, with the weather service confirming three weaker twisters northwest of Atlanta on Sunday and three more tornadoes west of the city on Tuesday.

In addition to tornado warnings, the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for parts of North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia until Friday night.

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St. Louis tornado sirens didn’t sound in deadly storm. Now a city commissioner has been placed on leave.

St. Louis’ emergency management chief has been placed on administrative leave, the city’s mayor said, after sirens meant to sound during a tornado warning failed to be activated ahead of Friday’s deadly twister.

Sarah Russell, commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency in St. Louis, will remain on paid administrative leave as an external investigation proceeds into what went wrong. 

St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer already ordered an internal probe in the immediate aftermath of the siren failure, when National Weather Service radar indicated that a tornado touched down between 2:30 and 2:50 p.m. local time. It initially struck near central St. Louis before ripping through the area, with officials estimating some 5,000 people were affected.

Five people in St. Louis were killed in the severe weather, officials said. Spencer described it as “one of the worst storms — absolutely.” 

There is a system of 60 outdoor sirens stationed around St. Louis, which are meant to be activated once the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning for the area as it did on Friday. There are two places where they can be activated: the CEMA office and the Fire Department. 

According to Spencer’s office, which announced Russell’s leave Tuesday, the commissioner was attending an offsite workshop with other emergency management staff when the tornado warning came down, and that prevented them from activating the sirens from their agency’s main building, about a half mile away. 

Russell instead contacted the Fire Department to activate the sirens, but the directive was ambiguous, the mayor said. Her office released the recording of Russell’s call to the department, in which she confirms they are aware of the NWS warning and briefly clarifies the timing of it before saying, “OK, you got the sirens?” The person at the fire department replies “Yes, ma’am,” and the call ends.

“The direction was not clear,” Spencer said at a news conference Wednesday morning about the phone call. Russel did not clearly direct the person at the Fire Department to press the button to activate the sirens, she said, adding, “It’s my understanding that the button was not pushed.”

However, even if someone had pressed the button at the Fire Department, city officials learned Tuesday that the button was not working. 

“Work to repair the button began Tuesday afternoon and is expected to be completed within days,” Spencer’s office said. 

The button at the CEMA office was functioning, and Fire Department personnel will be stationed there 24/7 to activate the sirens if needed, the office said. 

Spencer also signed an executive order Tuesday to change the siren activation protocol, putting the Fire Department solely in charge of activating the warning system. While the standard operating procedure for activating the sirens says the primary activation point is located at the Fire Department headquarters, the de facto protocol had been that CEMA would activate the system at its office and contact the Fire Department if it could not.

“With the mayor’s executive order, this lack of clarity has now been eliminated,” Spencer’s office said. 

Until a permanent replacement for Russell is found, St. Louis fire captain John Walk will serve as the interim emergency management commissioner.

Emily Mae Czachor

Emily Mae Czachor is a news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social and criminal justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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FEMA responds to deadly Kentucky tornadoes amid layoffs, looming cuts

As potentially severe storms threaten parts of the Midwest and the South — which comes after a string of tornadoes have already left over two dozen dead — residents will likely have to turn to a weakened Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid recovery.

In London, Kentucky, Michael Carnes clung to his family as they heard the walls crumbling around them when a tornado hit on Friday.

“We ran into the closet under the stairs, which we thought was the safest place, which it was cuz it’s basically the only place it wasn’t damaged at all,” he recalled.

Across the state, authorities said 19 people were killed after a tornado damaged hundreds of homes and tossed vehicles in the air. With multiple other residents hospitalized, the death toll was expected to rise.

Extreme weather has caused widespread destruction in the Bluegrass State. In April, heavy rainfall led to major flooding in what is now Kentucky’s wettest year on record. And so far in 2025, more than 42 tornadoes have been reported. 

A tornado hit London, Kentucky, on Friday, May 16, 2025.

CBS News


Carnes and other survivors are picking up the pieces of what’s left, and they’re going to need a lot of help.

London Police and Laurel County officials have set up sites for residents to pick up supplies and several shelters have been opened. FEMA is also on the ground, officials tell CBS News, but the agency is facing its own challenges after it lost about a third of its staff. About 1,800 employees took the Trump administration’s buyout offer, a top former FEMA official told CBS News. Another 200 or so probationary workers were also fired.

Earlier this month, the head of FEMA was fired after he appeared to publicly break with the Trump administration on whether to eliminate the nation’s disaster relief agency. Cameron Hamilton, FEMA’s acting administrator, departed roughly three weeks before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Last week, CBS News reported on an internal FEMA review that said the disaster relief agency is “not ready” for the hurricane season, which officially begins in June.

Meanwhile, Congress is reviewing the Trump administration’s proposal to slash FEMA’s budget, nixing $646 million in non-disaster grants during the 2026 fiscal year.

President Trump has toyed with the idea of eliminating FEMA and in March signed an executive order directing state and local governments to “play a more active and significant role” in preparing for emergencies. The administration has also justified the proposed cuts to the agency and hiring overhaul as “cutting out wasteful spending and bureaucracy.”

Despite the layoffs and potential cuts, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said leaders at FEMA have vowed to help.

“The people who’ve been harmed are gonna get our very best. We’re gonna fight for them,” Beshear said Saturday. “I have no criticisms of their operations on the ground and that’s coming from a guy who’s had disagreements with this president, but they’ve done a good job when FEMA has come into Kentucky and I’m grateful.”

For now, Carnes and his neighbors say they feel overwhelmed. When asked what is next for him to do, Carnes said he’ll probably file for relief with the Red Cross and FEMA.

“And just try to get as much help as we can to rebuild,” Carnes said, “or move on.”

Nicole Valdes

Nicole Valdes is a correspondent based in Nashville. Valdes was most recently a weather correspondent with FOX Weather. Since joining FOX Weather in 2021, Valdes covered breaking and developing weather-related news for the streaming service. Valdes reported from nearly 40 states, leading network coverage of Hurricane Ian’s impact on Florida, as well as countless tornadoes, flood, and wildfires. As a proud bilingual journalist, Valdes put her skills forward to produce and report an in-depth piece on Hurricane Maria’s impact to Puerto Rico. Prior to this role, Valdes worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor in Phoenix, Arizona, where she led the station’s coverage of the 2020 Presidential election. She was also a multimedia journalist for the CBS-affiliate in Fort Myers, Florida. Valdes graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville.



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At least 5 people dead in St. Louis after severe storm sweeps through city

At least five people died and authorities were searching from building to building for people who were trapped or hurt after severe storms including a possible tornado swept through St. Louis.

The storms Friday afternoon tore roofs off buildings, blew out windows, ripped bricks off siding and yanked up trees and power lines. St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said more than 5,000 homes were affected and about 100,000 customers remained without electricity on Friday night.

“The loss of life and the destruction is truly, truly horrendous,” Spencer said. “It truly is a hard night for many, many people and many, many families in our community.”  

The number of people injured was not immediately known. Barnes-Jewish Hospital received 20 to 30 patients from the storm with some in serious condition and most expected to be discharged by Friday night, according to hospital spokesperson Laura High.

St. Louis Children’s Hospital received 15 patients with two of them expected to remain in the hospital into the weekend, she said.

The city implemented a 9 p.m. curfew in parts of St. Louis on Friday night, encouraging people to stay home as officials sweep every building in the path of the storm to search for potential victims.

“We’re going to have a lot of work to do in the coming days. There is no doubt there, but tonight we are focused on saving lives and keeping people safe and allowing our community to grieve,” Spencer said. 

In addition to asking people to stay home, Spencer urged people to stay off their phones unless it’s an emergency, as the storms have disrupted cell service in the city, and officials want to make sure people who need to call 911 can get through to get help.

At Centennial Christian Church, City of St. Louis Fire Department Battalion Chief William Pollihan told The Associated Press that three people had to be rescued after part of the church crumbled. One of those people died.

Part of Centennial Christian Church in St. Louis, Missouri, collapsed on Friday, May 16, 2025 when severe storms, including a possible tornado, swept through the city.

Michael Phillis / AP


National Weather Service radar indicated that a tornado touched down between 2:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. in Clayton, Missouri, in the St. Louis area. It received reports of damage, mostly downed trees, weather service meteorologist Marshall Pfahler said.

The apparent tornado touched down in the area of Forest Park, home to the St. Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World’s Fair and Olympic Games the same year, Pfahler said.

The St. Louis Zoo posted a message on X, the messaging platform formerly known as Twitter, that it would remain closed for the rest of the day because of the weather. The post included no information on damages, a zoo spokesperson didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

“We can’t definitively say whether or not it was a tornado — it likely was,” Pfahler said.

Radar confirmed a tornado above Venice, Illinois, about 2:50 p.m. CDT. It could be accompanied by golf ball-size hail, the National Weather Service in St. Louis said. Venice is northeast of St. Louis, just across the Mississippi River.

The weather service described the tornado as “extremely dangerous” and moving east at 50 mph. The tornado is part of a severe weather system that spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, downed trees, left thousands without power in the Great Lakes region and brought a punishing heat wave to Texas.

Weather forecasters warned that severe storms with hail and even hurricane-force winds also could hobble parts of Appalachia and the Midwest on Friday. Tornadoes were also a risk there.

The National Weather Service said severe weather was likely across parts of the central Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic states. Residents in Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, parts of Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio should brace for intense storms that could include baseball-sized hail.

The weather service’s Storm Prediction Center said that “strong, potentially long-track tornadoes and very large hail” could be expected. The threat for damaging winds in excess of 75 mph will increase into this evening as storms grow into larger clusters.

A tree lays on a house in Dorr, Mich., after a severe storm ripped across Michigan the night before, on Friday, May 16. 2025. 

Neil Blake / AP


Ahead of Friday night’s anticipated storm, Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said Friday it requested 1,700 additional workers from neighboring utilities along with sending its own crews from unaffected areas to assist with service restoration.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, in a post on the social media platform X, put residents on notice.

“Kentucky, there is a dangerous weather system moving through our state with a significant round this afternoon through tonight. Strong winds, hail, flooding and tornadoes are possible starting at 2 p.m. CT in Western Kentucky and reaching Louisville around 5 p.m. ET,” he said.

Shelters were opening in the Paducah, Kentucky, area.

Faith Borden, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service Nashville office, said Friday that middle Tennessee could expect “all types of severe weather. Winds up to 70 mph. We’re talking seriously large hail up to 3 inches, which for us is big hail.”

Texas, meanwhile, faced searing heat. A heat advisory was issued for San Antonio and Austin, with temperatures at a blistering 95 degrees Fahrenheit to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Parts of the southern East Coast, from Virginia to Florida, battled with heat in the 90s.

The National Weather Service Office for Austin/San Antonio said Friday the humidity coming in over the weekend is expected to make temperatures hotter.

“There are concerns of heat exhaustion for people that aren’t taking proper precautions when they’re outdoors,” meteorologist Jason Runyen said. He advised those affected to take breaks and stay hydrated.

Overnight Thursday, storms accompanied by booming thunder, lightning displays and powerful winds swept through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, northern Indiana and Michigan — leaving scores of trees down and thousands of homes without power.

Several tornadoes touched down Thursday in central Wisconsin. None of the twisters have received ratings yet, said Timm Uhlmann, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Green Bay.

“We’re still gathering reports,” Uhlmann said. “We’re assessing some of the damage and still getting video and pictures. The damage that we have is fairly widespread. There was a lot of large hail. In Eau Claire was one report of softball-sized hail.”

No injuries have been reported.

Surveys also were underway Friday of damage in Michigan to determine if any tornadoes touched down there, said Steven Freitag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township, northwest of Detroit.

The storms were fueled by temperatures in the lower 80s that stretched from Illinois into Michigan and were activated by a cold front that pushed through, Freitag said.

The threat of severe weather in Chicago delayed a Beyonce concert by about two hours Thursday at Soldier Field. 

Associated Press writer Haya Panjwani in Washington and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this story.

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