Death Toll in Kentucky Storms Hits 19

The death toll from this weekend's severe storms has hit at least 28. Nineteen of the fatalities were in Kentucky, seven in Missouri, and two in Virginia, NBC News reports. The news comes amid speculation that the Trump administration's cuts to the National Weather Service may have worsened the forecasting situation; the New York Times reported on Friday that Kentucky was "scrambling" to cover the overnight forecast in a short-staffed NWS office. But the office's lead meteorologist later told WEKU the office was fully staffed: "If there's weather, we're staffed," he says. "Failure is not an option."

The sources who spoke to the Times, though, said the NWS cuts ordered by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have dramatically altered the forecasting situation. "For most of the last half century NWS has been a 24/7 operation—not anymore," says the the legislative director for the union that represents Weather Service employees. (More National Weather Service stories.)