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.