From Kentucky to Flint, here are ten devastating tornadoes that wreaked havoc in US

After powerful tornadoes that ripped across at least six US states caused a mounting death toll of more than 70, battered homes, destroyed properties, and swept through large swathes of the Mid and southern United States, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear labelled it as one of the deadliest disasters to hit his state. US President Joe Biden "reaffirmed the Federal government’s support for the people of Kentucky throughout the difficult time ahead,” the White House said in a statement. While it may be one of the hardest-hitting tornadoes than the previous storms that wreaked damage on the states, it is certainly not the first. The following are the 10 deadliest storms to have hit the US, causing human lives and property damage. 

Beecher Tornado

Known as one of the deadliest tornadoes, the Beecher tornado of 1953 ravaged everything causing wreckage and death, as it travelled a path 833 yards wide and more than 27 miles long. The powerful tornado tore through Beecher battering the concrete houses, jolting strong walls, and blowing the rooftops. At least 66 businesses and farms were completely destroyed and the total damage incurred amounted to more than $19 million at that time. It left behind $860,000 in damages as three expensive structures were completely ruined, causing 116 fatalities and 844 injuries. This tornado caused the most fatalities ever recorded in the US from a single tornado in Michigan. 

Woodward Tornado 

The Woodward tornado wreaked havoc across parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas on April 9, 1947 and killed 181 people. As many as 970 were reportedly injured. Woodward tornadic storm began in the Texas Panhandle during the afternoon, as per the National Weather Service. It started moving northeast, and continued on the ground continuously for about 100 miles, ending in Woods County, Oklahoma, west of Alva. 

Tri-State Tornado

The Tri-State tornado, which struck Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925, at 1:01 pm stayed on the ground for nearly three and a half hours, had hit at least three states, and developed over two major rivers along the 219-mile path. This was the longest continuous path for any tornado, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Known as the deadliest tornado in the US, a tri-state tornado touched down in northeastern Arkansas, it stayed on the ground for some 223 miles before it dissipated into the sky over Kentucky's Breckinridge County.

According to Courier and Press, this tornado was later classified as an F-5 storm, the strongest on the scale as its winds had reached at least 261 mph. The Tri-State  tornado  killed 695 people and injured 2,000 others and the damage path was as wide as 12 football fields. 

St. Louis Tornado

This tornado killed 255 people and injured 1,000 on May 27, 1896, in Missouri and Illinois as powerful winds of between 207 mph and 260 mph wreaked havoc and destruction mainly in the St. Louis area. The storms from the tornado trapped people in homes in St. Charles County. The damage also caused power outages for thousands, as per the reports. 

Great Natchez Tornado

On May 7 in the year 1840, a deadly tornado touched down around 20 miles southwest of Natchez and moved in a northeast direction with huge black clouds that appeared like “black masses, some stationary and some whirling," according to eyewitnesses account by US Tornadoes. It then wreaked havoc speeding 10 miles to the west-southwest of town around Natchez Island next to the Mississippi river and scrapped the far southern and eastern edge of the town of Vidalia. 317 people were dead and 109 were injured from this disaster. 

Tupelo–Gainesville Tornado

This powerful tornado touched down in Tupelo, Mississippi damaging homes, uprooting trees, and snapping the power lines. As many as 100,000 Mississippi residents and the entire city of Tupelo were put under a tornado emergency as a large and destructive tornado tore through the entire region trashing the homes and destroying property in its path.

Drone footage showed a humongous twister that hit on April 5, across Tupelo, Mississippi killing at least 216 people, according to the National Weather Service. The tornado caused $3 million worth of property damage. Later another storm, part of the Tupelo Gainesville ravaged through the Georgia city of Gainesville killing 203 people, as per the National Weather Service toll.

Vickie Savell, right, looks for her wedding band, as a friend and fellow church member pulls possessions from the remains of her new mobile home. Credit: AP

The remains of two mobile homes are shown in Yazoo County in multiple tornadoes across Mississippi. Credit: AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

"New Richmond Tornado" in New Richmond, Wisconsin

On June 12, 1899, a devastating "New Richmond Tornado" levelled the town of New Richmond, Wis.,  killing 117 people and injuring 150. "Massive amounts of flying debris resulted in multiple deaths in at least 26 different families. Six families had four or more deaths," the NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan says on a fact page, as per Fox News. ”The good visibility of the funnel may have prevented an even higher death total."

Shinnston Tornado

On June 23, 1944, the most destructive natural disaster in lives and property to occur in West Virginia came about after a deadly tornado at Shinnston in Harrison County formed that killed 153. This tornado was one of the most severe that the US state of West Virginia had ever experienced, according to reports. At about 8:30 in the evening, a huge twister emerged in the northwest turning into a gigantic black funnel-shaped cloud that travelled about 40 miles per hour.

Residents who were the eyewitnesses told the reporters at the time that the tornado appeared like a fire as it ravaged the homes into piles of debris, destroyed the timbers, trees, etc. 100 people in the West Virginia community died, and more than 1,000 deaths and 3,000 injuries across Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, as per the National Weather Service. 

Flint–Beecher Tornado

One of America's most devastating natural disasters occurred in Flint, Michigan's Beecher district on June 8, 1953, resulting in 116 deaths and injuring 844. This was declared as the F5 intensity tornado and was the last one in the United States to result in over 100 fatalities, US government data states. A National Weather Service poll in 2000 cited the public and local weather experts voting this tornado as Michigan's worst natural disaster in the 20th century.

Dixie Tornado

At least 34 tornadoes touched down on the east of the Mississippi River from April 23 through April 26, 1908. Tornadoes generally started from Texas to Georgia, then northward from Oklahoma to Tennessee.An extremely violent storm killed at least 320 people and injured over a thousand citizens. This tornado is known as the hardest-hitting over Purvis, Mississippi as the town was completely levelled and 55 citizens lost their lives, the National Weather Service reports.