Dozens Dead After Tornado Outbreak in the Central U.S.

Dozens of people are dead after a tornado outbreak that devastated the central and eastern U.S. on Friday. Read on for more details of this severe weather event.

Tornadoes Kill Dozens in the Central U.S. on Friday

The death toll from Friday's severe weather outbreak continues to mount. As of late Saturday, there were at least 28 confirmed fatalities and dozens more injuries. The southeastern corner of Kentucky was hit the hardest by the late Friday storms with 21 deaths reported in this part of the region alone. The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that a large tornado roared through the lower portions of Kentucky just after midnight.

The Laurel County Sheriff's office confirmed that some of the injuries were severe after a tornado ripped through homes and other structures late Friday. Entire neighborhoods have been lost in the community of London, located about 75 miles south of Lexington. Video footage from the scene of the destruction shows homes shredded in half and vehicles thrown about.

Search and rescue teams were at ground zero on Saturday, combing through the wreckage looking for survivors. Officials warn that the death toll could continue to rise in the hours ahead.

Over 700,000 homes and businesses spread across a dozen states were without power during the peak of the outages. The bulk of the power outages were reported in Missouri and Kentucky. By Saturday morning, there were still 650,000 customers in the dark.

More than 700,000 homes and businesses across 12 states lost power during the outbreak, according to PowerOutage.us, with Missouri and Kentucky hit hardest. As of Saturday morning, around 650,000 customers were still in the dark. This includes about 160,000 without power in Michigan at the hands of the storms on Thursday night.

St. Louis Area Also Hit Hard

The St. Louis metro area was also in the crosshairs of the tornadic activity on Friday evening. Seven fatalities have been confirmed in this city along with several damaged structures. The Centennial Christian Church was ground zero for the destruction. At least one death occurred after a section of the church crumbled.

The St. Louis Zoo was closed Saturday due to damage from the storm. Fortunately, all of the animals were safe.

St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer imposed an overnight curfew in the city on Friday and Saturday to deter people from interfering with the search and rescue operations. About 20 square blocks in the metro area were damaged, including a firehouse that had almost all of its windows blown out. Spencer told the media on Saturday that about 5,000 total structures have been impacted by the storms.

First responders searched over 4,000 homes looking for victims. More advanced technical equipment was brought in on Saturday to continue the search process. The Red Cross took action and opened several shelters across the Arch City for displaced residents.

The Missouri town of Blodgett, located about 120 miles southeast of St. Louis, was also hit by a tornado during the middle of the Friday evening commute. The storm moved over Interstate 55, sending debris into the air before moving to the east and into the convergence point of the borders of Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. This storm then moved over the city of Paducah, Kentucky.

Officials in the town of Creal Springs, Illinois, issued a rare tornado emergency as a storm roared over the region at about 6:30 CDT local time.

The central U.S. was not the only part of the country that experienced severe weather on Friday. Several thunderstorm cells moved through downtown Baltimore at the end of the work day. While a tornado warning was issued for the city, there have been no confirmations that a twister did spin up.

Air travelers were met with significant disruptions as a result of the severe weather. Over 3,000 delays were attributed to the thunderstorm activity.

More Storms on the Way

The Midwest and the Northeast will enjoy a break from the constant threat of storms to end the weekend. However, it will not be the same story for the south-central U.S.

It has already been a volatile week of weather for the eastern half of the nation. Thursday saw at least 360 severe weather reports alone. Friday brought another 600 incidents of thunderstorm activity. Of this number from Friday, at least 51 were reported as preliminary tornadoes. Other impacts over the past week include wind speeds that reached hurricane-strength of 74 mph or greater, baseball-sized hail, and torrential rain.