At least 18 Kentuckians are dead after a violent wave of storms and a likely tornado devastated Southern Kentucky, tearing across the commonwealth for roughly six hours Friday night into early Saturday morning.

The devastation was breathtaking in some places, akin to an exploded bomb in business districts in Laurel and Pulaski counties and a subdivision in London. The powerful system chewed up stores and neighborhoods, collapsed buildings, overturned cars and triggered desperate door-to-door rescues in hopes of pulling residents from flattened homes.

Gov. Andy Beshear said in a Saturday afternoon briefing that at least 10 individuals are in critical condition.

“Please pray for all of our affected families,” he pleaded early Saturday morning.

At his briefing, Beshear praised local officials’ reaction to the overnight storm system, while also saying the death toll is likely to rise from 18.

Beshear acknowledged that disasters like what has unfolded in Southern Kentucky have tragically become “the new normal.” The wave of natural disasters has become too familiar of a routine: Kentucky has recorded at least 43 deaths, including two children, from extreme weather that’s pounded the commonwealth in February, April and now mid-May.

“I don’t know why this is happening to Kentucky,” Beshear said. “But our collective resilience is great, and we remain there for the communities that have been hit so hard.”

On Friday afternoon, a storm system that took shape in southeastern Missouri west of Interstate 55 gained power and roared into Kentucky, leveling homes, businesses, airport hangars and at least one church overnight Friday and into the early hours of Saturday.

It wreaked havoc before crossing I-75 about 80 miles south of Lexington and began to sputter around 1:15 a.m., exiting to southwestern Virginia. Saturday proved a day of rescues, cleanup, surveying damage and the realization that life has changed in a slice of Southern Kentucky.

“What’s most surprising to me is just the amount of destruction,” said Craig Singleton of London.

Read the full article about the tornado in Southern Kentucky by Karla Ward, Bill Estep, John Cheves, and Linda Blackford at Lexington Herald Leader.