December 11th, around 1am, 70 lives were lost due to a deadly tornado that ripped lives, homes and families apart in Kentucky. Leaving the communities of Bowling Green, Mayfield and others devastated, traveling more than 220 miles leaving not only people’s lives and homes in disarray but businesses as well, the area of Mayfield losing an entire candle factory killing more than 50 workers. Then Bowling Greens 31-W Bypass suffered a ton of damage to locally owned businesses. The city of Bowling Green will feel the effects of the tornado and mourn the loss of loved ones for years to come as the rebuilding process has begun but the city of Bowling Green will never forget the morning of December 11th, 2021. During a Western Kentucky University basketball game versus Louisville Beshear stopped on his tour of the damage to give a speech to the city of Bowling Green. “While we are hurting – while we have been knocked down – we are not broken,” Beshear said. “What our people need is commitment. Commitment to being there, not only this week and next month, but in the years to come – to replace every single brick, every single structure and to rebuild every single life.”


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Friends, neighbors and loved ones walked the streets on the morning of December 11, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky., to discover what was left of their neighborhood after an EF-3 tornado ripped through the city in the early morning hours.

Bowling Green resident Latonya Webb recounts her harrowing experience living through the tornado. “I was on the phone with my mother when the tornado came through and I remember I said, ‘Mom I am going to die.’”

Pete Desai, owner of the Cardinal Motel, a fixture in Bowling Green since 1979, surveys the tornado damage to his business.

Residents of The Cardinal Motel in Bowling Green awoke early in the morning on December 11 to survey the tornado damage. The motel and numerous other businesses along the U.S. 31 W Bypass are beginning the long process of rebuilding.

Damage in a residential area just off the bypass in Bowling Green left residents reeling and wondering where they were going to live.

Following the early morning of chaos set off by the EF-3 tornado, children sit on the porch of their home right off of the bypass, trying to comprehend what happened.

Kitty Williams, right, is comforted by her stepdaughter, Kristina Wise, who drove in from out of state the day the EF-3 tornado hit Williams’ home. Wise joined Williams’ friends to help her salvage what she could from her destroyed home.

A teddy bear sits on top of a pile of debris in the Creekwood neighborhood, an area in Bowling Green that was particularly hard hit by the tornado. Many of those who died lived in this neighborhood.

With her K-9 dog, Ed, Kimberly Holley, a member of Tennessee Task Force #1, searches for Nyssa Brown, who was the last missing person in Bowling Green. The 13-year-old was found dead the next day.

Bowling Green resident Muhammad Raad, right, helps his friend sort through what is left of her family’s belongings in the Creekwood neighborhood in Bowling Green.

Residents spray painted a message of thanks on their front door amidst the destruction in the Creekwood area of Bowling Green.

A Clarksville, Tenn., church group members pray for those lost in the Creekwood neighborhood of Bowling Green.

Bowling Green residents Timmy Tomes, left, and Dalton Finn, look through what is left of a friend's roof in the Creekwood neighborhood.

After Kentucky Governor Andy Beasher toured the affected areas of Western Kentucky devastated by the tornado, he stopped by E.A. Diddle Arena on Western Kentucky University’s campus to encourage the crowd attending a basketball game.

Kitty Williams, who lost her Bowling Green home in the tornado, holds up a sign that survived the destruction.