BARNSLEY, Ky. (AP) — Devin Johnson’s life was uprooted for a second time when a tornado flattened his home over the Memorial Day weekend — on the same lot in Kentucky where another storm left him homeless in 2021. Johnson, 21, watched Tuesday as workers used chain saws to cut into the wreckage of the trailer he called home with his grandparents and girlfriend.
It was an all-too-familiar scene for his family. Their previous home in the tiny western Kentucky community of Barnsley was destroyed during another in December 2021 that killed 81 people in the Bluegrass State. “We never thought that it would happen again,” Johnson said.
Amid all the uncertainty as they start over again, there’s one thing they’ve decided on, he said. “All we know for sure is we’re not going back here,” Johnson said. “It’s going to have so many memories of us losing everything.
” Barnsley was hit on Sunday by a powerful tornado that packed winds up to 165 mph (266 kph) and tore a destructive path across nearly 36 miles (58 kilometers) of Kentucky, the National Weather Service said. The region was hit by multiple rounds of severe storms, and damage survey teams were assessing the wreckage to determine how many tornadoes struck. Another powerful storm Sunday barely missed the city of Mayfield, where a painstaking recovery continues from a tornado that hit the town in 2021.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency from the Sunday storms and reported five deaths stat.
