Politics | National Weather Service Death Toll in Kentucky Storms Hits 19 9 more dead in Missouri, Virginia By Evann Gastaldo Posted May 19, 2025 2:00 AM CDT Copied A destroyed home lays in a pile following severe weather in London, Kentucky, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) The death toll from this weekend's severe storms has hit at least 28. Nineteen of the fatalities were in Kentucky, seven in Missouri, and two in Virginia, NBC News reports. The news comes amid speculation that the Trump administration's cuts to the National Weather Service may have worsened the forecasting situation; the New York Times reported on Friday that Kentucky was "scrambling" to cover the overnight forecast in a short-staffed NWS office. But the office's lead meteorologist later told WEKU the office was fully staffed: "If there's weather, we're staffed," he says. "Failure is not an option." The sources who spoke to the Times, though, said the NWS cuts ordered by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have dramatically altered the forecasting situation. "For most of the last half century NWS has been a 24/7 operation—not anymore," says the the legislative director for the union that represents Weather Service employees. Read These Next Andrew is still a prince, but he's no longer a duke. ChatGPT is going to get sexy. Lots of people are worried. Nobody's sure why kids started shouting 'six seven.' Author of bestselling memoir about depression dies at 35. Report an error