Twisted Lives
A tornado hit West Kentucky early in the night and continued for 128 miles in the state. The devastating twister killed 78 people in Kentucky just two weeks before Christmas. Volunteers from around the country and donations of supplies, money, toys and hope flooded the devastated area.
"How I lived, I don't know," Katrina Wilson told her friends as they collected their belongings from her demolished home on 8th Street in Mayfield, Ky., Saturday morning, Dec. 11, 2021. A tornado hit Mayfield, Ky., Friday night, Dec. 10, 2021. The family of four rode out the storm in their fiberglass bathtub/shower and nobody was injured.
Workers use a bulldozer to clear debris a few blocks south of Downtown Mayfield, Ky., Saturday morning, Dec. 11, 2021. A tornado hit Mayfield, Ky., Friday night, Dec. 10, 2021.
Keith Patterson, left, prays with Darrell Stafford of Iuka, Miss., right, and his crew who had made the drive north to help with tornado assistance Thursday morning, Dec. 23, 2021. Patterson was working on his dad, Billy Patterson's home on N. 6th Street in Mayfield.
Two men, who declined to be identified, help with the retrieval of property from their friend's demolished home Saturday morning, Dec. 11, 2021. A tornado hit Mayfield, Ky., Friday night, Dec. 10, 2021.
A flock of pigeons fly over tornado-damaged grain bins off Fulton Road in Mayfield, Ky., Thursday morning, Dec. 23, 2021. The industrial area of the town was especially hard hit. Mayfield Consumer Products' candle factory was destroyed and nine workers lost their lives.
Cletus, a great Pyrenees, left, and Corbin, a pit bull mix, check out their new surroundings at It Takes a Village in Evansville, Ind., Tuesday night, Dec. 14, 2021. Both of them – as well as seven more dogs, a cat and her three kittens – were transferred from the Muhlenberg County (Ky.) Humane Society to make room for animals displaced by Friday night's tornado.
Julianne Riley of Bremen, Ky., and her son, Jayce Gunn, 4, spend a little quiet time together during the Western Kentucky Toy Drive at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 21, 2021. The family was displaced by the Friday night, Dec. 10, 2021, tornado.
Books are still neatly positioned in a book shelf in a tornado-damaged home in Mayfield, Ky., Wednesday morning, Dec. 22, 2021.
Dulce Mercado, 8, left, and her cousin, Renata Mercado, 10, dance to Christmas tunes in a trailer/float in St. Joseph Catholic Church's parking lot in Mayfield, Ky., Thursday evening, Dec. 23, 2021. The trailer was full of toys to give out during their impromptu Christmas parade.
All that is left of a tornado-damaged home after the surrounding property was cleared in Mayfield, Ky., Wednesday evening, Dec. 22, 2021.