Then and now: See photos, video of Mayfield cleanup one year after deadly tornado

On the night of Dec. 10 and into the early hours of Dec. 11, 2021, a series of tornadoes tore through parts of Western Kentucky, killing more than 80 people and destroying homes, stores, churches and other buildings, causing billions of dollars worth of damage.

An EF-4 tornado first touched down in southwestern Tennessee and traveled 165.7 miles to Falls of Rough, Kentucky, tracking through 11 Kentucky counties, according to the National Weather Service.

Mayfield, Dawson Springs, Bremen and Bowling Green received some of the most significant damage from the destructive winds. In Dawson Springs, more than 75% of the housing stock was destroyed.

Kentucky, the nation and President Joe Biden, who saw the destruction first-hard during a visit, couldn’t believe some of the images and video from the places hardest hit.

One year later, drone pictures and video of the same locations in Mayfield show how it has changed and what downtown landmarks look like today. It still has an eerie, war zone look, but cleaner with most of the debris hauled away.

Then-and-now images show the devastation on the city of 10,000, just as photos taken before and after the storm from the ground and satellite images of some historic buildings around town.

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A year after the historic tornadoes, the landscape of downtown Mayfield is profoundly changed. Where buildings once stood are now empty foundations and slabs. Debris from the Graves County Courthouse and other landmarks destroyed in the storm have been removed, leaving wide open spaces. Traffic signals, bent by the high winds, remain, although they’ve now been replaced by four-way stop signs.

But signs of resilience and rebuilding are also evident in Mayfield as new construction begins following the arduous cleanup.

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