A massive weather system swept across the South and Midwest over the weekend. It spawned severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. They killed at least 28 people in three states. The same system whipped up a 60 mile-per-hour dust storm. It engulfed the Chicago area in darkness on an otherwise sunny day. Kentucky was the hardest hit of three states that suffered deaths. Survivors in Kentucky spent Sunday digging out from the Friday storms. Rescue workers also carried on their search for the missing on Sunday. At least 19 people were killed in the Bluegrass State. Most of the deaths were in Laurel County. (It's in the state’s southeast.) At least seven lost their lives in Missouri and five died in St. Louis. Two people also died from falling trees in the Washington, DC, suburbs of northern Virginia. Most of the deaths in Kentucky and Missouri were caused by tornadoes, officials said. The Virginia deaths occurred in high winds and heavy rains. London was Kentucky’s hardest hit town. There, a tornado caused at least a dozen deaths. The twister wreaked devastation on two neighborhoods and the area around London Corbin Airport in a situation emergency officials described as a “mass casualty event.” Entire blocks of homes were pummeled into scrap lumber, shredded siding, and broken bricks. Mahala Watts of London County told WLKY-TV that she, her family, and the dog huddled in the bathroom as the twister ripped the roof off their house. “We were just kind of praying, you know, scared it was going to come back,” Watts said. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who has presided over 13 weather disasters, said the tornadoes that ripped through his state were among "the worst in terms of the loss of human life. It’s one of the worst in terms of damage.” Reflect: What are some ways your community prepares for severe weather events? Photo of home destroyed by a tornado in London, Kentucky, from Reuters.
