Driving Around Tornado Ravaged Mayfield, KY in 4k Video

Filmed on Sunday, April 30 2023, I drive around the city of Mayfield, Kentucky to see what's going on.
During the late evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a violent, long-tracked EF4 tornado moved across Western Kentucky, producing severe to catastrophic damage in numerous towns, including Mayfield, Princeton, Dawson Springs, and Bremen.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency for Mayfield at 9:26 p.m. as the now-massive wedge tornado approached the town from the southwest. As the tornado entered Mayfield, it regained EF4 intensity, and numerous homes were damaged or destroyed along Cardinal Road, some of which were leveled or swept from their foundations. Trees in this area were debarked and denuded, cars were thrown, and mobile homes were obliterated.
EF4 damage continued after the tornado crossed over Mayfield Bypass, where Mayfield Consumer Products, a candle factory where approximately 110 employees were working, was flattened. The large metal-framed warehouse building completely collapsed, trapping many employees and resulting in eight deaths and numerous injuries. Allegedly, workers' jobs had been threatened if they left the factory between the first and second tornado warnings for the area - a tornado warning had been issued earlier that evening at approximately 5:30 p.m. - and then again after the second tornado warning was issued after 9:00 p.m. CST.
Several other industrial businesses were also damaged or destroyed near the candle factory, while semi-trucks and other industrial vehicles were thrown and destroyed as well, some of which were left unrecognizable.
Afterward, the tornado intensified even further, reaching high-end EF4 intensity as it moved along US 45 and tore directly through the center of Mayfield, resulting in widespread, catastrophic damage throughout the historic downtown square, listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its late Victorian and Classical Revival architecture.
Most of the structures in downtown Mayfield were heavily damaged or destroyed, including multiple large, well-built, multi-story brick buildings that completely collapsed. Only large piles of bricks and lumber remained in the hardest-hit portions of the downtown area, and streets were left buried under debris.
The large and well-constructed Graves County Courthouse had much of its roof torn off, its clock tower collapsed, and it had some of its exterior upper-floor walls knocked down. Several restaurants, an indoor soccer facility, a barber shop, automotive business, gym, bank, movie theater, health and rehab center, and many other businesses were destroyed in downtown Mayfield.
Large metal silos were crumpled and heavily damaged at a granary, and the large Mayfield water tower was toppled and destroyed.
The post office, city hall, fire station, and police station were also significantly damaged or destroyed, and the emergency operations center lost the ability to transmit radio communications.
Three large churches were destroyed in downtown Mayfield, including the First Presbyterian Church, a large and well-built brick structure that was mostly leveled. The First Christian Church sustained collapse of its domed roof and upper walls, while the First United Methodist Church's sanctuary, which was constructed with very thick masonry exterior walls, collapsed.
A school bus garage, metal industrial buildings, and apartment buildings also sustained major structural damage or were destroyed in other areas of town. The tornado also devastated residential areas in town, levelling or sweeping homes numerous from their foundations. Many trees were denuded and debarked, and cars were thrown hundreds of yards and mangled.
Dual polarization radar imagery showed that the tornado had lofted debris up to 30,000 feet into the air as it impacted the city.
22 people were killed in and around Mayfield, with hundreds more injured, many severely. #driving #travel #drivingtour