WASHINGTON, May  17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Severe storms swept through the US 
states of Missouri and Kentucky, leaving at least 21 people dead, laying waste 
to local communities and cutting off electricity to nearly 200,000 people, 
authorities said Saturday.
       
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said on X that at least 14 people had died 
in the storms Friday night, while local officials in Missouri said another 
seven were dead there.
       
Jamie Burns, 38, who lives with her husband and son in a trailer home in 
the town of London, Kentucky, had to seek shelter in the basement of her 
sister's brick house while the storm destroyed some 100 to 200 houses in the 
area.
       
"Things that have been here longer than I have, things that have been here 
for 30-plus years are just flat," Burns told AFP in a phone interview, her 
voice quavering.
      
 "It's wild, because you'll look at one area and it's just smashed... 
totally flattened, like, not there anymore."
       
Drone footage published by local media showed scenes of devastation in 
London, with houses leveled and reduced to splinters and tree trunks standing 
bare, completely shorn of branches.
       
Beshear added that more than 100,000 people have been left without power in 
the state, and five counties have declared a state of emergency.
      
 Eastern Kentucky, an area historically known for its coal mines, is one of 
the poorest regions in the country. "A lot of us live in manufactured homes 
that aren't safe for tornado weather," said Burns.
      
 Tornadoes are spinning columns of air that touch the ground from massive 
cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds.
       
       
- 'One of the worst storms' - 
       
       
In Missouri, five people were killed in the large city of St. Louis, in 
what authorities said was one of the worst storms in its history, and two in 
Scott County, the State Highway Patrol said in a statement to AFP. 
      
 More than 80,000 people were left without power and three shelters were 
opened in the area, the statement added. More severe weather was forecast for 
Sunday night and Monday.
       
Asked Saturday by a reporter whether it was the worst storm ever to hit St. 
Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer replied: "I would describe this as one of the worst 
storms -- absolutely. The devastation is truly heartbreaking."
     
  She said 38 people in the city were injured and some 5,000 buildings 
damaged.
      
 Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe said during the same press briefing that his 
office was keeping the White House informed of the situation.
      
 In one St. Louis neighborhood, a church was heavily damaged, according to 
CBS footage, and rescue workers continued to treat victims near the building 
Saturday morning.
      
 "It's horrific for a tornado to come through here and cause this much 
damage to the residents and also to the church," Derrick Perkins, a pastor at 
the Centennial Christian Church, told CBS. "Our hearts are broken."
      
 Bruce Madison, who also works at the church, said the community was coming 
together in the face of the tragedy.
      
 "Right now, we're just praying for... everybody that they're trying to find 
right now."
      
 While there were warnings ahead of the severe weather -- Beshear had 
protectively declared a state of emergency Friday -- the latest outburst may 
raise questions about whether sharp cuts by the Trump administration have left 
National Weather Service forecasting teams dangerously understaffed, forcing 
some offices to curtail operations.
       
An estimated 500 of the 4,200 NWS employees have been fired or taken early 
retirements this year, according to the Washington Post.
      
 The United States saw the second-highest number of tornadoes on record last 
year with nearly 1,800, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), trailing only 2004.