Mayfield, Kentucky, marks 3 years since deadly tornado

MAYFIELD, Ky – The community of Mayfield, Kentucky, is marking three years since the deadly tornado outbreak that began on the evening of Dec. 10, 2021.

A long-track EF-4 tornado first reported at 8:39 p.m. local time on the Kentucky-Tennessee border made a direct hit on Mayfield. The twister was one of 71 tornadoes reported across several states during the outbreak.

Twenty-two people lost their lives in Mayfield. Nearly 90 people were killed across the region.

Cassy Basham, the executive director of Camp Graves, a local nonprofit that works to house the tornado victims, said there is still so much left to be done three years later.

“We continue doing what we’re doing because people are still displaced,” Basham said. “They are still having their homes replaced and rebuilt.” 

Pastor Chad Lamb of Grace Life Church, which was destroyed by the twister, told FOX Weather on Tuesday that rebuilding in the town center that was leveled by the storm has just started. He said the foundation of the courthouse has recently been laid, and groundbreaking ceremonies have been held for City Hall, the police station and the firehouse. He noted that the scale of the destruction has been a major factor in the long rebuilding process.

“It looked like a nuclear bomb had went off,” Lamb said. “It was just so devastating.” 

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Lamb said that a lot of development has taken place on the outskirts of town, including new homes and restaurants.

Despite the complications and years of rebuilding, Micah Seavers, president of the Camp Graves board, said the community remains tight-knit.

“You’ve got people who lost everything overnight … so many people didn’t let this just completely diminish their spirit,” Seavers said. 

Lamb said the Mayfield community is helping people recover from Hurricane Helene even as they continue to rebuild from their own disaster.

“The community has all come together … we’ve got folks from here heading to North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee,” Lamb said.

This aerial image taken on December 13, 2021, shows tornado damage after extreme weather hit the region in Mayfield, Kentucky.

(CHANDAN KHANNA / Getty Images)

On Tuesday night, Mayfield High School will host a pair of basketball games against Dawson Springs, which was also heavily impacted by the tornado outbreak. A special memorial ceremony will be held between the games.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is scheduled to visit Western Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon.

Basham emphasized that the people in Mayfield are not just focused on building back what they lost.

“It’s not just about recovering the property,” Basham said. “It’s about recovering the people and the heart of the community.”

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How the Mayfield tornado unfolded

The EF-4 tornado destroyed almost every building in Mayfield’s downtown.

FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray recalled the moment when he got on the scene.

“I arrived less than 12 hours after the tornado,” Ray said. “Driving into Mayfield was shocking. Immediately, I knew this was a mass casualty situation, and an active search and rescue was happening amid the piles of collapsed buildings and homes.”

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The Mayfield EF-4 tornado was on the ground for more than three hours and carved a destructive path that was 165 miles long.

“It became clear that a terrible severe weather outbreak was materializing during the afternoon,” said FOX Weather Meteorologist Ian Oliver. “The eventual look of that particular supercell on radar – with the well-defined debris signature showing a massive tornado moving directly through town – was truly heartbreaking and horrifying.”

Eight Tornado Warnings were issued that night. A total of seven had been issued in the 21 years prior, in what is now the state’s deadliest tornado outbreak.

“I had previously worked in Kentucky for years and thankfully never saw anything remotely close to what happened in Mayfield,” Oliver said. “FOX Weather was only a couple of months old at the time – it was the first time that we tracked a storm of that magnitude on our network.”

Ray has watched Mayfield’s slow but steady recovery.

“Since the deadly disaster in 2021, I have returned and reported seven times and continue to see progress,” Ray said. “Having said that, the rebuilding is a slow process and I know there is frustration there. The community is still reeling and yet there is a tremendous amount of hard work to bring back Mayfield and honor the lives lost.”