At least 27 people have been killed by storms systems that swept across part of the U.S. Midwest and South, with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announcing Saturday that 18 of the deaths came in his state and 10 others were hospitalized in critical condition. A devastating tornado in Kentucky damaged homes, tossed vehicles and left many people homeless. Seventeen of the deaths were in Laurel County, located in the state’s southeast, including Fire Department Maj. Roger Leslie Leatherman, a 39-year veteran who was fatally injured while responding to the deadly weather. The other fatality was in Pulaski County. Parts of two dozen state roads were closed, and some could take days to reopen, Beshear said. He also said most of the victims were in their 60s and 70s and the death toll could still rise. “It’s hard to see,” the governor said after touring the impacted areas. “Homes that there isn’t a single wall left standing. Some homes that have all four walls yet lost the person inside. You can not only see the destruction but feel it.” State Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson said hundreds of homes were damaged, Kayla Patterson, her husband and their five children huddled in a tub in their basement in London, the county seat, as the tornado raged. “You could literally hear just things ripping in the distance, glass shattering everywhere, just roaring like a freight train,” she recalled. “It was terrible.” The family eventually emerged to the sounds of sirens and panicked neighbors. While their home was spared, others right behind it were demolished, Patterson said Saturday, as power tools buzzed in the background. The neighborhood was dotted with piles of lumber, metal sheeting, insulation and stray belongings — a suitcase, a sofa, some six-packs of paper towels. Rescuers searched for survivors all night and into the morning, the sheriff’s office said. An emergency shelter was set up at a high school, and donations of food and other necessities were arriving. Another resident, Chris Cromer, said he got the first of two tornado alerts on his phone around 11:30 p.m. Friday, about a half-hour before the tornado struck. He and his wife grabbed their dog, jumped in their car and sought shelter in the crawlspace of a relative’s nearby home because their own crawlspace is small. “We could hear and feel the vibration of the tornado coming through,” said Cromer, 46. A piece of their roof was ripped off, and windows were broken, but other homes nearby were destroyed. “It’s one of those things that you see on the news in other areas, and you feel bad for people — then, when it happens, it’s just surreal,” he said. “It makes you be thankful to be alive, really.” The storm was the latest severe weather to cause deaths and widespread damage in Kentucky. Two months ago at least 24 people died in a round of storms that swelled creeks and submerged roads. In late 2021 another storm spawned tornadoes that killed 81 people and leveled portions of towns in western Kentucky. The following summer historic floodwaters inundated eastern parts of the state, killing dozens. Beshear said that since he became governor in 2019, he has dealt with at least 14 federally declared disasters, all but one of them weather-related. He called Friday’s tornado […]