EF4 Tornado — Laurel, Kentucky

2025-05-16 · near Goodwater, Laurel, Kentucky

Event narrative

NWS survey teams dispatched on Saturday morning to Russell and

Pulaski Counties, where they were able to confirm a touchdown

along KY-619, about 2.5 miles northeast of Jamestown. Upon

touchdown it caused damage to a garage, two antenna towers, and

several trees. Sporadic damage east of KY-619 seems to suggest

that the tornado may have briefly lifted for a few hundred yards

after its initial touchdown point, before touching back down in a

grove of trees between KY-619 and John Streat Road. EF-1 damage

was observed in this area, with winds estimated between 95 and 100

mph. The tornado caused roofing damage to a house along John

Streat Road as it continued east, also producing a swath of

uprooted trees as it crossed a finger of Lake Cumberland. The

tornado gradually intensified as it crossed Parks Ridge and

continued through the community of Eli and points eastward. The

damage in this area was consistent with high-end EF-1 and EF-2

winds, between 100 and 130 mph.

The tornado then continued across the Pulaski County line, where

it caused considerable damage near the Faubush and Nancy

communities, before making it's way to the south side of Somerset.

Here it strengthened as it came down a steep hillside into the

city. Some residences and numerous businesses were affected, with

survey results showing high end EF-2 damage along Parkers Mill

Way and S Hwy 27. On the eastern edge of the city it affected the

South Kentucky RECC, causing catastrophic damage to all buildings,

as well as surrounding businesses. Damage in this region shows a

likely strengthening to low-end EF-3 winds.

The damage path continued on eastward towards the Daniel Boone

National Forest, where additional EF-3 damage was incurred. This

includes the lifting, twisting, and throwing of a high tension

power pole eastward several hundred yards downwind in a nearby

field off of Rush Branch Road, and destroying multiple residences.

High-resolution satellite imagery shows the tornado plowing

through the Daniel Boone Forest, with complete destruction of

trees through the middle of the path. It also reveals a path width

of nearly a mile wide during this time, including the strongest

inflow into the storm. This was also confirmed by the survey crew

on Monday.

The tornado then exited the forest and moved towards the south

side of London between 11:35 and 11:45 EDT. It is at this point

that it started impacting large residential areas as it set sites

on the London-Corbin Airport. Two teams surveyed the damage in

southern London for several days. The survey results showed that

the tornado continued to strengthen just west of the I-75

corridor, as it started towards the Sunshine Hills subdivision. It

was here that some of the heaviest damage occurred, with the

tornado taking a direct path through the subdivision. Many homes

were wiped clean from their foundations, with vehicles thrown and

trees debarked with only stubs of the largest limbs left. It is in

this subdivision where the majority of casualties occurred.

Survey teams and subject- matter experts all looked at the damage

that had occurred in this location and agreed that the tornado had

increased again to around 170mph based on the damage, making it

an EF-4 rated tornado.

After the tornado passed over I-75 around 11:45 EDT, it headed

for the airport, continuing to cause high end EF-3 damage to both

the airport and residential communities adjacent to the west along

the center of it's path. After exiting the airport, it caused

extensive damage at Levi Jackson Park, the Laurel County

Fairgrounds, Crooked Creek Golf Course, and neighboring

subdivisions. The tornado began to lose considerable strength

after this point, with generally EF-0 damage reported as it

neared East Laurel Road (Hwy-80) and Mt. Salem Rd (KY-488). The

tornado appears to have lifted just east of KY-488, based on NWS

ground surveys, satellite, and aerial video. NWS survey teams

followed the circulation path eastward through Clay and Leslie,

but were unable to find any reports that the tornado touched back

down in these counties.

By the time it lifted, just a few minutes before midnight, the

tornado had carved out a damage path of just shy of 60 miles over

the course of 3 counties. One death was reported in Russell and

another in Pulaski County. Sadly, 17 lives were lost in Laurel

County.

Wider weather episode

Eastern Kentucky experienced multiple rounds of severe weather from May 16th into the early morning hours of May 17th.

The initial round of severe weather, occurring during the morning and early afternoon, produced swaths of large to significant hail (approaching baseball size), localized damaging winds, and heavy rainfall. Notably, intense thunderstorm wind gusts impacted downtown London, tearing a roof off the Wedding Shoppe and a portion of the Copper Penny, which subsequently landed on vehicles in a nearby parking area. A lull in storm activity from mid-afternoon through early evening allowed the atmosphere to become highly unstable.

Scattered supercell thunderstorms then moved in from the west through the evening, generating multiple brief but strong to violent tornadoes across parts of eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and western Kentucky. A particularly long-lived supercell tracked east from the Ozarks of southern Missouri, intermittently producing brief tornadoes and wind damage as it moved through the southern portions of Western and Central Kentucky.

The storm's final, and most destructive, tornado touched down in Russell County, approximately 4 miles southeast of Russell Springs. Initially, the damage path was fairly narrow, in the EF-2 to low EF-3 range, as it tracked through southeast Russell County and into Pulaski County, causing significant damage to structures and trees. After impacting the southern end of Somerset, inflicting considerable damage on residential homes and the Southern Kentucky RECC headquarters, the tornado strengthened and widened. It reached EF-4 strength with estimated winds of around 170 mph as it moved toward Mount Victory. The tornado's path of devastation continued eastward through the rugged and forested terrain of the Daniel Boone National Forest, reaching a maximum width of 1,700 yards. Radar indicated that debris was lofted at least 27,000 feet above the ground. The tornado narrowed again as it approached and crossed I-75, scouring neighborhoods south of downtown London and impacting the London-Corbin Airport, before lifting about 6 miles southeast of London.

The most extensive residential damage and the largest number of casualties occurred in the Sunshine Hill community, just southwest of the London city limits. Official reports confirm 19 fatalities from this tornado, making it the deadliest tornado in the history of NWS Jackson. Seventeen of these deaths occurred in Laurel County, with one fatality each in Pulaski and Russell counties. At least 11 individuals sustained serious injuries, and an unknown number sustained less serious injuries. CHI St. Joseph Hospital in London reported treating 108 patients for injuries after the tornado. In Laurel County alone, the London mayor reported 817 homes affected, including 280 completely destroyed and 195 sustaining major damage. (For more detail, see the Official NWS Storm Survey summary and the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit Viewer.)

Following the tornado's dissipation, the parent supercell gradually weakened as it moved eastward through Clay, Leslie, Perry, and Letcher counties, producing substantial wind damage. Separately, another strong supercell tracked from the Bluegrass region into Rowan and Elliott counties, but fortunately caused only sporadic wind damage and up to egg-sized hail. Behind these supercells, additional intense thunderstorms accompanied the passage of a cold front, primarily producing strong to damaging straight-line wind gusts.

Beyond the thunderstorms, the initial round of heavy rainfall early in the day occurred along a west-southwest to east-northeast axis, roughly from Rockcastle to Pike counties. Excessive rainfall, exceeding 3 inches in parts of Breathitt County, led to localized flash flooding. Additional isolated flash flooding occurred with the second round of thunderstorms late on May 16th and into the early morning hours of May 17th. The cumulative effect of the heavy rainfall resulted in high water at multiple river forecast points, including the South Fork Kentucky River at Oneida and Booneville, the Licking River at Salyersville, and the Levisa Fork at Prestonsburg. Minor flood stage was also exceeded at Heidelberg and Ravenna along the main stem of the Kentucky River.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0579, -84.3176)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1292941. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.