At least 27 dead as storms batter states from the Heartland to the East Coast

At least 27 people were reported dead across several states in an expansive outbreak of severe weather from the Heartland to the East Coast — with more potentially powerful storms in the forecast for Saturday.

State officials reported 18 people were killed in Kentucky, seven people were killed in Missouri and two in Virginia.

Most of the deaths in Kentucky occurred in Laurel County in the southeastern part of the state, about 130 miles southeast of Louisville.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear toured the damage in his state Saturday, telling reporters during a news conference afterward, “You can not only see the destruction, you can feel it.”

Beshear, who declared a state of emergency ahead of the storms, said he’s been governor for at least 13 federally declared disasters related to weather and this storm was one of the worst in terms of loss of life and damage.

The ages of those killed in the storms ranged from 25 to 76, with at least 12 of the deaths being people in their 60s and 70s, according to information released by state officials.

One of the people who died was identified as Maj. Roger Leslie Leatherman of the Laurel County Fire Department, who had been in public service for 39 years and “died doing what first responders do every day, risking his life for our safety,” Beshear said.

Residents sift through wreckage

Some neighborhoods in London, the Laurel County seat, saw total devastation — homes blown away in the middle of the night, with residents huddling in hallways and basements. On Saturday, with whole blocks of homes gone, residents were left to sift through what remained of their homes.

Lonnie Nantz, 78, said he was in bed with his wife when his daughters yelled that a tornado was coming. They held onto each other in their hallway as the home crumbled around them. Pieces of his home were scattered all over his yard and his vehicles were destroyed by debris.

Down the street, Kyndra Foster was with 13 family members in their basement. She said she believed they were going to die. The youngest child with her was just 4 months old. Her 8-year-old daughter was left with bruises on her face, and didn’t think she was going to make it through. Foster was in a wheelchair Saturday with a broken foot after being hit by a flying piece of debris.

Weather service: St. Louis tornado was an EF-3

In Missouri, St. Louis was particularly hard hit when a tornado ripped through city neighborhoods Friday afternoon, tearing roofs off homes and knocking buildings down.

The National Weather Service said in an update Saturday that the storm was at least an EF-3 tornado, with winds up to 140 mph, and up to 1 mile wide at times.

“I would describe this as one of the worst storms,” St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said at a news conference Saturday. “Absolutely, the devastation is truly heartbreaking, and let’s not forget people have lost their lives. We are continuing to make sure that we are identifying all those that are injured, in addition to the massive amount of property damage that has taken a huge toll.”

Five people in the city were killed and 38 were injured, Spencer said.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an X post that she was in touch with the leaders of the states affected by the storms.

“We discussed how while emergency management is best led by local authorities, we reinforced that DHS stands ready to take immediate action to offer resources and support,” she said.

Over 462,000 customers were without power across multiple states, stretching from Michigan to Tennessee.

All told, at least 26 tornadoes were reported from Friday’s storms in Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois and one from New Jersey.

Softball-sized hail was reported in Barlow, Kentucky, and near Sullivan, Indiana, with greater than tennis-ball-size hail reported locally from Texas to Ohio.

In Virginia, two people died after trees fell onto their vehicles during storms there on Friday, authorities said.

In total, 15 states have reported storm damage from hail, winds and tornadoes from Missouri up to Michigan and out to New Jersey as severe storms continued tracking through the East-Central United States from Arkansas to Virginia.

Severe weather threat on Saturday

More potentially severe weather was in the forecast Saturday.

A severe weather threat targeting the center of the country was beginning to unfold Saturday evening, first focusing on the southern Plains.

A tornado watch was issued for portions of Oklahoma and Texas until 10 p.m. CT, including Oklahoma City and Wichita Falls, Texas. Damaging wind gusts, large hail and a couple of tornadoes are possible from any severe thunderstorms that move through.

To the south, severe thunderstorm watches have been posted across portions of central into north Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. In these areas, the tornado threat is lower, with damaging wind gusts and the potential for very large hail the primary concerns.

Thunderstorms are beginning to fire up and are expected to sweep across the watch areas into Saturday night.

Strong thunderstorms continued across portions of the South early Saturday morning, stretching from Arkansas to the Carolinas.

Quarter-size hail, as well as downed trees and roof damage, have already been reported with these storms.

For the Northeast, the highest threat was centered over portions of upstate New York, western Massachusetts, most of Vermont and western New Hampshire, including Burlington, Vermont; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Albany, New York, with the primary risks being damaging winds and large hail and a few isolated tornadoes also possible.

For the South-Central Plains, the highest threat was centered over portions of central Texas that includes Dallas and Arlington, Texas.

A larger but lesser threat also exists for other areas of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas and includes Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Wichita, Kansas.

ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.