'IT HAPPENED SO FAST'

Jeff Wyatt's home of 17 years was destroyed along with much of his neighbourhood in London, Kentucky. Wyatt, his wife and two of their children scarcely made it to safety in a hallway while the roof and family room were ripped away. On Sunday, the family returned to the wrecked home to collect photos, baby blankets and other keepsakes.

“It happened so fast,” said Wyatt, 54. “If we would have been there 10 seconds longer, we would have been gone with the family room.”

Survivors and their supporters picked through the debris in London on Sunday, wary about new forecasts. Severe storms were possible for Kentucky on Monday and even more so on Tuesday, the weather service said.

Zach Wilson, whose parents' home was destroyed, said he was “terrified” another storm would ruin the remaining salvageable items scattered across their property — or even worse, destroy another community.

“If I had to tell anybody it would be to listen to every word that the National Weather Service kicks out and take every warning seriously,” Wilson said.

The Kentucky storms emerged from a weather system Friday that killed seven in Missouri and two in northern Virginia, authorities said. The system also spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, brought punishing heat to Texas, and temporarily enveloped parts of Illinois — including Chicago — in a pall of dust on an otherwise sunny day.

MISSOURI AND KANSAS COULD SEE MORE STORMS

The weather service said parts of Missouri and Kansas could see severe thunderstorms, golf ball-sized hail and wind gusts up to 97 kph into Monday.

In London, Kentucky, Ryan VanNorstran huddled with his brother's large dogs in a first-floor closet as the storm hit his brother's home Friday in a neighbourhood along Keavy Road where much of the destruction in the community of nearly 8,000 people was centred.

VanNorstran was house-sitting.

He said he felt the house shake as he got into a closet. Then, a door from another house crashed through a window. All the windows blew out of the house and his car was destroyed. Chunks of wood had punched through several parts of the roof but the house avoided catastrophic damage. When he stepped outside, he heard screaming.

“I guess in the moment, I kind of realised there was nothing I could do. I'd never really felt that kind of power from just nature," he said.

DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS UNDERWAY

Damage assessments were underway Sunday as the state readied its request for federal disaster assistance, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said.

The governor announced a 19th storm victim, a woman from Russell County. Of 10 people hospitalised for weather-related injuries, three remained in critical condition.

“A lot of Kentuckians are hurting right now,” Beshear said on X, touting fundraising efforts to help with funerals and rebuilding. “If you're able to help, please do.”

He said parts of two dozen state roads were closed, and some could take days to reopen.

About 1,200 tornadoes strike the US annually, and they have been reported in all 50 states. Researchers found in 2018 that deadly tornadoes were occurring less frequently in the traditional “Tornado Alley” of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas and more frequently in parts of the more densely populated and tree-filled mid-South.

In St. Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer said five people died, 38 were injured and more than 5,000 homes were affected.

“The devastation is truly heartbreaking," she said.

A tornado struck in Scott County, about 210 kilometres south of St. Louis, killing two people, injuring several others, and destroying several homes, Sheriff Derick Wheetley wrote on social media.

STORMS HIT AFTER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION STAFFING CUTS AT WEATHER SERVICE

The storms hit after the Trump administration massively cut staffing of National Weather Service offices, with outside experts worrying about how it would affect warnings in disasters such as tornadoes.

The office in Jackson, Kentucky, which was responsible for the area around London, Kentucky, had a March 2025 vacancy rate of 25 per cent; the Louisville, Kentucky, weather service staff was down 29 per cent; and the St. Louis office was down 16 per cent, according to calculations by weather service employees obtained by The Associated Press. The Louisville office also was without a permanent boss — the meteorologist in charge — as of March, according to the staffing data.

Experts said any vacancy rate above 20 per cent is a critical problem.