Hazardous Weather Support NWS Paducah plansto document the recovery of cities and towns that were devastatedduring this tornado outbreak. The Dawson Village apartment complex was totally destroyed, and several two-story brick apartment buildings sustained EF4 damage there, being largely reduced to rubble with only a few first-floor interior walls left intact. Time lapse of home reconstruction in Mayfield. The event developed as a trough progressed eastward across the United States, interacting with an unseasonably moist and unstable . Kentucky Tornadoes Followed Flash Floods, Ice Storm and a Covid Spike Structures destroyed or uninhabitable: 84. Submit a Storm Report, CURRENT CONDITIONS Track Map (Screenshot taken from interactive map above), Tornado #2 - Long-Track EF-3 across NW TN into W KY. The tornado tracked northeast over mostly open country before causing significant damage to several homes off of Boddie Road and Darnell Road. (NWS Storm Survey). 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. Chris Phillips/Maverick Media Group, LLC via Reuters. Another long-track EF-3 tornado with estimated peak winds of 160 mphstarted in Dyer County, TN, and traveled 122.7 miles through northwest Tennessee and into Christian and Todd Counties in western Kentucky. [65] The NWS office in Paducah requested mental health officers be there to assist the meteorologists due to potential trauma from assessing the path of devastation from the tornado. 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 western Kentucky town of Mayfield was "ground zero" of the. Its. "Rescues and search efforts are ongoing -- even before the wind stopped blowing, crews were out working," Dossett said Saturday morning. (Tomer Burg/Univ. Other structures: US Dept of Commerce The storm spawned one single. One such stormwhich formed from the initial mid-afternoon activity near Arkadelphia, Arkansasmatured into a long-lived supercell as it progressed in an unstable, deeply moist, and highly sheared environment;[10] this cell ultimately persisted for longer than 550 miles (890km) over several hours from eastern Arkansas to northeastern Kentucky, producing two large and intense tornadoes along its track, among eleven tornadoes in total. Research shows 72 of Kentucky's 120 counties are without an OB-GYN At least six people died in the collapse, Illinois Gov. The tornado received a maximum rating of EF2 in Stewart County, and 4 people were injured. of Oklahoma), Regional radar loop across the Lower Ohio and Mid-Mississippi River valleys from 6 PM Dec. 10 to 8 AM Dec. 11. ", "We're going to get through this together and the federal government is not going to walk away," Biden said. As it moved through forested areas, it uprooted thousands of trees. [47] South-southwest of Dawson Springs, a group of storm chasers photographed a possible satellite tornado associated with the parent tornado. The governor declared a state of emergency and submitted a request for a federal emergency declaration. Andy Beshear. A deadly late-season tornado outbreak, the deadliest on record in December, produced catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across portions of the Southern United States and Ohio Valley from the evening of December 10 to the early morning of December 11, 2021. The worst of the damage occurred near the Dawson Springs park, where several homes were completely destroyed, including a few low rise apartment buildings. 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. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by the storm. Seventy-sixpeople have been confirmed dead, Kentucky Gov. Clymer declares State of Emergency in McCracken County following brief Tornado Watch Issued Friday; [1][26], After moving to the northeast of Cayce, the tornado weakened but still remained strong as it moved through rural areas to the northeast of town at EF3 intensity, destroying barns and a cell tower, and tearing the roof and exterior walls from a house. "Overwhelmed and mixed emotions," tornado survivor Kay Houston says. Tornado . 5 people were injured in west Tennessee. In Mayfield, according to the National Weather Service, more than 4,000 structures were impacted (damaged or destroyed), including 3,778 residences, 183 commercial buildings, and 103 other structures. In this area, 15 residents of Dawson Springs perished. 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. 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. BDM helping rebuild Dawson Springs | Local News | the-messenger.com [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. Passing near the MuhlenbergMcLean county line, the tornado weakened substantially as it crossed into Ohio County at 11:10p.m. (05:10 UTC), producing EF1 damage as it traversed rugged, hilly terrain to the west of Centertown. Questions? The tornado clipped the Fort Donelson National Battlefield area of extreme southeastern Calloway County, Kentucky where it blew down several trees, then crossed the Tennessee River into the [4] The following day, the SPC discussed higher certainty in a corridor of organized severe thunderstorm potential stretching from southeastern Arkansas northeast into southern Indiana, upgrading that region to an enhanced risk. [42] Dozens of homes were destroyed along the southern and southeastern fringes of town, especially at the Princeton Golf and Country Club subdivision, where several houses were leveled or swept away. [54] Among the fatalities was District Judge Brian Crick, who represented Muhlenberg and McLean counties, as confirmed in a statement from the Supreme Court of Kentucky on December 11. Sorry, the location you searched for was not found. (Tomer Burg/Univ. [58], In 2022, Timothy Marshall, a meteorologist, structural and forensic engineer; Zachary B. Wienhoff, with Haag Engineering Company; Christine L. Wielgos, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service of Paducah; and Brian E. Smith, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service of Omaha, published a damage survey of portions of the tornados track, particularly through Mayfield and Dawson Springs. "We are strong, resilient people, and we will be there every step of the way.". It's a radar artifact that is usually caused by very large hail. Kentucky tornado path map: See the deadly, 200-mile path Map of storm reports and warning polygons, (red=Tornado Warning, yellow=Severe Tstm Warning), Convoy of Hope in Lyon County (Lyon County EMA), Rebuilding homes in Lyon County (Lyon County EMA), Delivering new appliances to tornado victims in Lyon County (Lyon County EMA). Kentucky tornadoes: See photos of the damage across the state Damage estimates were in the millions according to the owners for just this one farm. 12:01am CST #SPC_Watch WW 2 TORNADO AR KY MO TN 010555Z - 011300Z, #arwx #kywx #mowx #tnwx, https://t.co . [12], Doppler radar analysis estimated that the supercell maintained a nearly continuous high-end rotational vorticity signature, averaging at 94mph (151km/h; 82kn) for approximately four hours and 20 minutes, among a rarity of thunderstorms (averaging 1.5% of all supercells) that produce mesocyclonic vorticity exceeding such speeds. The tornado reached Hickman County at 9:06 p.m., where the tornado damaged 40 buildings, with at least 12 buildings completely destroyed. The Paducah officealso saidan aerial assessment of damage appearedto show an "historic long track tornado" that was at least three-quarters of a mile wide in Kentucky as it went from southwest of Cayce in Fulton County to at least Beaver Dam in Ohio County. Continuing northeast, the tornado entered Dawson Springs in far eastern Hopkins County at 10:32 p.m. An interior view of tornado damage to Emmanuel Baptist Church, Dec. 11, 2021, in Mayfield, Ky. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. As many as 70 people are believed to have been killed in western Kentucky, and the death toll could exceed 100, according to Gov. Many trees continued to be denuded and debarked. The tornado produced EF-4 damage in Cayce, including the total destruction of buildings and complete collapse of the walls in family homes. 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. A road sign along the Western Kentucky Parkway was blown about a tenth of a mile near the end of the track. At 3:00p.m. CST (21:00UTC), the SPC issued a tornado watch across the highest risk area (encompassing central and eastern Arkansas, west Tennessee, northwestern Mississippi, southeastern Missouri, and southern portions of Illinois and Indiana), the first of eleven issued over subsequent hours over the middle Mississippi Valley. Tornado Watch Map, Forecast for Tennessee, Kentucky - Newsweek The storms caused tornadoes to form in the early evening hours west of Kentucky. Amazon said emergency safety training in case of tornadoes is given to new employees and repeated throughout the year. All NOAA. [69] In December 2022, a temporary memorial was placed in the Mayfield court square. The lawsuit alleges that the factory had up to three and a half hours to let workers leave as safety precautions and did not, and the company showed a "flagrant indifference to the rights of workers" and violated the Kentucky occupational safety and health workplace standards, by refusing evacuations. Several duplexes were destroyed at Clarkdale Court, including one that was leveled with only a pile of debris remaining. On the evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a potent storm system moving across the central United States resulted in widespread severe weather across the region, including a significant long track tornadoes. family brick home near Bear Creek where it took off the roof and top story. One of the most devastated sites is the southwestern Kentucky city of Mayfield, where a tornado hit the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory Friday night while people were working. What makes Kentucky's devastating tornadoes so rare Tornado devastation in Bremen on December 13, 2021. 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. He joined the newspaper in September 2021 after previously working with . The tornado received a maximum rating of EF2 in Christian County and EF1 in Todd County, and 4 people were Cars were thrown, copious amounts of structural debris were strewn in all directions, countless trees were shredded and debarked, and only rubble remained in the hardest-hit neighborhoods. After exiting Bremen, the tornado crossed through mainly rural areas of eastern Muhlenberg, Ohio, Breckenridge, and Grayson counties. 14 Dec 2021. occurred to several homes, farm outbuildings, and structures on Palmyra Road. Several buildings and homes in downtown Dresden suffered significant damage or were completely destroyed. 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. It crossed US 231, I-165, and KY 69 near Hartford, along with the Rough River twice. 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. Structures damaged: 81 Please Contact Us. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also pledged assistance to people affected by the tornadoes. In all, the tornado covered over 165 miles in about three hours, claiming 57 lives and injuring over 500 people. A state of emergency has been declared by Kentucky Gov. In addition to Edwardsville, two EF-3 tornadoes were confirmed in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and near Defiance, Missouri, according to the National Weather Service. During the late evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a violent, long-tracked EF4 tornado moved across Western Kentucky, producing severe to catastrophic damage in numerous towns, including Mayfield, Princeton, Dawson Springs, and Bremen. University of Kentucky Research and Education Center south of Princeton. Dozens Dead, Injured After Historic Tornado Outbreak 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. The program was created after an EF-4 tornado ripped through Mayfield, Kentucky, on Dec. 10, 2021. "For those that have seen it, what it's done here in Graves County and elsewhere, it is indescribable.". Weakening back to EF1 intensity, the tornado downed trees along Carter Ferry Road and Mud College Road. Aerial footage of damage in Dawson Springs. 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. Thetornado initially produced EF-1 damage but while progressing northeast, it continued to strengthen to EF3 as it approached Dresden, TN. Lucas Aulbach can be reached at laulbach@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4649 or on Twitter @LucasAulbach. In southern Illinois, in Edwardsville, an Amazon distribution warehouse was hit by a tornado, causing massive damage to the facility, officials said. [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. A church and a business were damaged nearby, and further weakening occurred further to the northeast, where EF0 to EF1 damage to trees and structures was noted. Sat 11 Dec 2021 18.29 EST First published on Sat 11 Dec 2021 08.28 EST. Deaths: 1 "I say to all the victims, you're in our prayers.". Damage to a house in rural Hickman County. A CSX freight line train was derailed as the tornado struck Barnsley, and 25 multi-ton freight cars were derailed, several of which were thrown from the tracks, including one that was tossed into a house. . [50] Almost every house in the small community was damaged or destroyed, including some that were leveled, though they were not well-constructed. Some outbuildings were also damaged or destroyed in this area. In Kentucky, it struck Mayfield directly before moving northeast through Benton, Princeton and Beaver Dam before weakening in Breckinridge County. Dual polarization radar imagery showed that the tornado had lofted debris up to 30,000 feet (9,100m) into the air as it impacted the city. [55] Some weakening occurred, but significant damage continued after the tornado exited Bremen and crossed US 431, where some homes and mobile homes were damaged or destroyed, and hundreds of large trees were snapped and denuded. Structures destroyed: 12, Graves County, KY: Injuries: 5 [29][30] The large metal-framed warehouse building completely collapsed, trapping many employees and resulting in eight deaths and numerous injuries. (Brett Adair/Live Storms Media), Tornado devastation in Dawson Springs on December 13, 2021. Unreal #kywx", "Kentucky tornado updates: Death toll now 76; another Mayfield candle factory worker dies", "We're out here at the UK Research Center in Princeton and this is the most intense tornado damage I've ever seen in my life", "Damage Survey of the Mayfield, KY Tornado: 10 December 2021", "Tornado Emergency For Dawson Springs and St. Charles", "Dawson Springs mother clutched her 2 kids in bed when the storm lifted her mattress into the air", "Photo from tornado-damaged home lands almost 130 miles away", "1.) of Oklahoma), Regional radar loop across the Lower Ohio and Lower Mississippi River valleys from 6 PM Dec. 10 to 8 AM Dec. 11. List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes - Wikipedia (NWS Storm Survey), Damage to a forest along Bayou de Chien in Hickman County. (NWS Storm Survey). Still producing violent EF-4 damage, numerous homes and pieces of infrastructure suffered catastrophic damage. Experimental Graphical Hazardous Weather Outlook, Evansville Local Standard Radar (low bandwidth), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Before and after satellite imagery of downtown Mayfield. Most of the damage in this area was to farm buildings, but some homes near the town of Hartford in Ohio County suffered EF-3 damage. To the northeast of Dawson Springs and Interstate 69 there was damage to small barns and other farm outbuildings, along with roofs and walls separated from floor and undercarriages of manufactured homes.