National Weather Service in Louisville confirms EF-1 tornadoes in Jefferson, Bullitt counties (2025)

Josh Hente and his family of three were in a bathtub, with a mattress over their heads, when an eerie moment of silence followed heavy rain showers.

Hente, his fiancé Amber Cummings and their 9-year-old son were taking cover while sirens blared in Fairdale Sunday night. When the rain died down, Hente could sense something destructive was coming.

"Once it got quiet, that's when I knew it was about to go down," Hente, 36, said. "It sounded like a train was going over the top of the house."

A swift tornado completely blew down two trees and part of another, damaging the roof of the house, their vehicles and some fencing. Hente had faced high winds before, but never a twister that went right through his own home.

The morning after the storm, Hente said he was busy filing insurance claims and getting tree damage assessed.

"We had had to move all the tree branches to assess the damage fully. I was able to do that, so that helped (move things along)," Hente said.

At least three tornadoes touched down during a round of severe weather in the area Sunday night, the National Weather Service in Louisville confirmed following storm surveys Monday.

In a preliminary report, officials with the weather service determined an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds of up to 90 mph damaged trees and some buildings in Fairdale, NWS Louisville meteorologist CJ Padgett said. Surveyors in Fairdale were working to determine the distance the tornado traveled.

"The main damage so far appears to be tree damage, and that's what we typically see with these weaker tornadoes, those EF-0s or EF-1s" Padgett said.

Two survey crews from the National Weather Service were out reviewing storm damages in Jefferson, Bullitt, Spencer, Hardin, Nelson, Meade and Breckenridge counties in Kentucky.

NWS officials observed radar-indicated storm rotation Sunday night in south Louisville from Dixie Highway to roughly 15 miles away in Heritage Creek, but that does not necessarily mean the tornado was on the ground the entire time, Padgett said. The survey crew in Jefferson County was tasked with determining where storm damages occurred along the path.

About two hours after releasing findings on the Fairdale tornado, a team of storm surveyors in Bullitt County announced a preliminary report of an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds of up to 105 mph, about four miles south of Shepherdsville. A photo taken by a member of the crew showed structural damage from a building impacted by the storm. Another preliminary report of an EF-1 tornado, with wind speeds of up to 90 mph, was made in Spencer County.

Survey crews from NWS Louisville may be needed again later this week, as tornadoes and damaging winds are believed to be among the main threats Kentucky and southern Indiana residents may face Wednesday.

"It's just a busy week of weather, with more severe storms possible," Padgett said.

Hente said he and his family will be ready for whatever comes next, having learned from his mother the importance of being alert and prepared during a severe storm.

"I'm a glass half-full kind of person, so I was trying to look at things positively," he said of his close encounter with a tornado. "Yeah, the damages could come, but it could always be worse. I try to keep that in my mind."

This story may update.

Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at lbertucci@gannett.com or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter

This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville tornado: EF-1 damage in Jefferson County confirmed