Aerial video footage from areas in the South and Midwest, including Kentucky, show a trail of destruction left by devastating storms and tornadoes.

Major Leslie Leatherman, a 39-year veteran of the Laurel County Fire Department, was tragically killed while responding to a fire alarm when the tornado touched down.

The National Weather Service in Paducah has confirmed that at least nine tornadoes touched down across the western Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri region Friday afternoon and evening.

At least three emergency orders were issued in 2024; three were also issued in 2023, five in 2022, two in 2021 and one in 2020. A violent wave of Friday storms and a tornado has killed at least 19 people in Southern Kentucky.

A preliminary survey by National Weather Service Jackson suggests an EF-3 tornado struck Laurel County late Friday.

Another round of tornadoes has struck the central U.S. after four days of tornadoes, thunderstorms and heavy rain killed more than two dozen people

T ornadoes, heavy rain, and thunderstorms tore through parts of the Midwestern and Southern United States over the weekend, leaving dozens dead. The weather system, which began on Friday, produced more than two dozen tornadoes that ripped through parts of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Kentucky and southern Indiana face severe weather but NOAA radio service goes offline. Learn how you can stay informed using alternative methods during the storm.