MAYFIELD, Ky. — It’s been 6 months since the deadly December tornado outbreak rocked western Kentucky. Residents endured wind speeds of nearly 190 miles per hour during the night of Dec. 10, 2021, hoping to make it out alive.
The highest death toll came from Mayfield, a town of nearly 10,000. Mayfield’s Mayor Kathy O’Nan reflects on the sound that was an EF-4 tornado and how her community has rebuilt in the aftermath.
What You Need To Know
The western Kentucky tornado outbreak occurred overnight on Dec. 10, 2021
- The tornadoes took the lives of 77 people
- June marks six months since the deadly tornadoes
- Mayor Kathy O’Nan remains optimistic that her city will rebuild fully in the next 10 years
The western Kentucky tornado outbreak occurred overnight on Dec. 10, 2021
“I’m not afraid of storms, but that night we knew like 9:15-9:25. I did go to my basement and shook like a leaf, prayed like heck and I heard a sound like jet engines,” said O’Nan.
The tornado ripped through where O’Nan called home and taught school-aged children for most of her. In the town she serves as mayor, she had to look destruction in the eye, which was hard for her.
Mayfield Consumer Products, or the Mayfield Candle Factory, was a total collapse, killing 8 people. It left families like the Williams distraught over the loss of their loved one, Janine Johnson-Williams.
Other families in Mayfield, like the Costellos, faced a different hurt. Samantha Costello is a single mom who tried to make it out alive with her children, but lost her home to the tornado.
“Everybody over there where I live lost their homes, and even my neighbor’s son lost his life. And it’s just one of those things that you just can’t fathom,” said Costello.
The Costello family lost their home and neighbor to the twister. It left the single mother one option: spend Christmas at a hotel and wrap gifts she was donated. Some people were considered lucky, like Kim Westerman.
“I can’t explain how beautiful it is. I was so thankful to Jesus, I got out of my car. I just looked up to heaven and screamed thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. We pulled into the driveway and the relief that I felt that my home was still here,” said Westerman.
Westerman is more than thankful to be alive today. The Mayfield Mobile Home Park sustained wind speeds of nearly 190 miles per hour. O’Nan knows how much her communities lost, but she says they still have resilience.
“That tornado took so much from us, but it left us with an opportunity to be a better Mayfield than we’ve ever been,” O’Nan said. “Everybody I talk to has that same goal in mind. I have no doubt over the next probably 10 years that’s the goal we’re working toward.”
As of June 1, there has been $81.9 million in FEMA Disaster Assistance approved for survivors of the western Kentucky tornado outbreak. Nearly 6,500 people have been counseled across western Kentucky through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation program, which provided information on how to rebuild stronger, more resilient homes for future disasters.
