More than two dozen people were killed and dozens more injured as powerful tornadoes and severe storms ripped across Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and even parts of the Washington, D.

Authorities in Kentucky expect the death toll of 14 to increase as they continue to search the ravaged areas. Nine of the dead were in Laurel County, where a tornado hit just before midnight on May 16, the sheriff's office said. Many more were injured there.

At least 21 people are dead in Kentucky and Missouri on Saturday after a night of severe weather and tornadoes battered cities large and small across the two states, with officials warning the death toll is likely to rise. At least 14 people have been killed in Kentucky while seven have been reported dead in Missouri, according to state officials.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Storm systems sweeping across parts of the Midwest and South have left at least 21 dead, many of them in Kentucky, where what appeared to be a devastating tornado crumbled buildings and flipped a car over on an interstate.

Additionally, there was no evidence that tornado sirens in the area had been deactivated by the Trump administration's budget cuts — if there was, the people affected by the storm certainly would have noted that fact in interviews.

Portions of southeast Missouri, southern Illinois and western Kentucky are under a tornado watch until 8 p.m. on May 20.

A pair of construction workers in St. Louis had no choice but to sit tight when a tornado, which killed five, passed through the region on May 20.