The death toll is now five from storms that hit Kentucky Sunday, bringing rain, tornadoes, high winds and hail.

The state says the five deaths occurred in Jefferson, Hardin, Hopkins, Caldwell and Mercer counties.

Another man from Hopkins County is now in critical condition.

Governor Andy Beshear declared a statewide emergency.

14 counties and five cities also declared emergencies.

Late this afternoon.

More than 50,000 customers were still without power.

The governor and Transportation secretary, Jim Gray, discussed the storm situation yesterday morning.

Communities across Kentucky experienced storms that produced strong winds, multiple tornadoes, hail in some places.

The storm knocked out power for thousands of Kentuckians, temporarily shut down numerous roads and interstates and caused massive damage to homes and businesses.

But like we always see after severe weather events, first responders and everyday Kentuckians rallied to help each other in those toughest moments.

They checked on loved ones and started to clean out and rebuild.

I was personally here as all types of first responders, forestry cut teams and others, especially headed to Charleston, where it was about five miles that people couldn't get in to check on homes.

It took a massive undertaking to reach those homes, to check on individual, sadly, at least one of which we lost.

Now, as of this morning, we are reporting high water, fallen trees and other impacts in about 45 counties, mainly, of course, as the governor said, in western Kentucky.

Nearly 100 state highways were affected by overnight storms and the bulk of those in Paducah, Madisonville and Bowling Green districts or highway districts.

We called in second shifts of highway technicians to continue clearing debris and monitoring high water throughout these regions in Muhlenberg County and in the hard hit Charleston and Barnsley areas of Hopkins.

Crews are cutting trees, clearing a path for search and rescue operations in Lyon and Caldwell counties overnight.

Crews worked through numerous downed trees to help responders reach the tornado damage path and ensure clear roads.

Straight line winds took down trees and power lines in Bowling Green, causing damage to homes and property.

Laura Rogers spoke with a homeowner who's still without electricity after a tree came crashing down on her roof Sunday morning.

Utility crews working into the evening on Memorial Day to restore power across Bowling Green Church Building.

I was actually at church in the basement.

Elizabeth Markle taking shelter when the storm hit Sunday morning.

My stepdad had called and was like, We hear there's damage in Bowling Green.

And I said, Well, I'm just back on my way from church.

I don't really see a lot right now.

And then, of course, I get here and I'm like, Oh, my gosh.

Her husband, Paul, was at home when this tree came crashing down on their roof.

He said this big wind came from nowhere.

He heard this big crack.

Cleanup crews working to remove the debris before the extent of the damage can be fully assessed.

We have a leak in our back part of our house so we know that there's roof damage.

Down the street.

Another big tree now just a stump leaving this front porch in shambles.

Free service and removal, a costly expense for homeowners.

Those things have a tendency to pile up.

The Markle's have filed an insurance claim.

Neighbors pitching in to help, offering up this generator and Wi-Fi access.

We were able to actually run an air conditioner off of it back in our bedroom and get our coffee made this morning, which is always very important.

Their home more than 100 years old, barely escaping the December 2021 tornadoes that touched down a few blocks away.

So it's been here and weathered a lot of other storms and situations.

Certainly.

Now adding another weather event to the list.

Markle Grateful no one was hurt and for the kindness of the community, people just.

Walking from other parts, just asking how we were and to saying really glad everybody's okay.

So that means a lot.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

The National Weather Service confirms an ef1 tornado tracked out of Butler County and into northern Warren County.

Peak winds hitting 110 miles per hour.

There's also a confirmed tornado in Meade County.

Meantime, in Mercer County, storms also damaged homes and power lines.

We talked to a homeowner there whose front yard was covered in downed tree limbs but said he's just thankful it wasn't worse.

The storm that we had committed here the other night was a lot of lightning and everything.

And we had been warned of high winds and everything.

So that's what it was.

Well, in Mercer County, we had two waves and on Sunday afternoon, about 1:00, we had the first wave hit.

And I've been out this morning with the National Weather Service, and we clocked the winds at about 70 miles per hour for that storm.

And we had another wave hit us about 1:00 in the morning on Sunday, Monday morning, Sunday evening.

So we had a lot of straight line winds.

We didn't have any indication of a tornado.

We've seen actual big trees uprooted out of the ground and then limbs breaking and that type of stuff, which took out of power lines and our electric poles and caused a lot of disruption in our electric service.

We've had this tree in our front yard, have provided plenty of shade for a long time for us.

And and it we lost half of it.

It came to the ground and we noticed that the rest of it was going to be damaged.

So we decided to go on and finish taking it down.

And I've got my grandson here helping me remove the rest of it.

We're thankful that God took care of us.

And you know, damage to the house, as you can see.

And we're all able to get up and and that's that's a lot to be thankful for.

This is a big first storm of the year, and hopefully it'll be the last one to.

Will Kentucky qualify for federal help to pay for cleanup and repairs?

Governor Bashir and Eric Gibson, the director of Kentucky Emergency Management, talked about that yesterday.

We also have to begin the recovery process now.

It's a big enough event where I think we should qualify for public assistance from FEMA with what's been knocked down on utilities alone.

But on that individual assistance side, it's going to take everyone all across the Commonwealth documenting their damage, even if you don't think you have a lot.

That amount goes into the total that's ultimately looked at to determine if our citizens can get that help.

The recovery process.

It's important to know there are things that you can do as a Kentuckian to help others because as a state, there are certain numbers that FEMA look at before they start to provide assistance.

So all damage reports are important, good photographs, receipts of necessary repairs to maintain, you know, the physical protection of your home.

If it's a tarp for the roof or it's something that you need to do to get a tree moved.

But keep those receipts, turn those receipts in, and the process to turn those in would be through your local county emergency manager that works in each one of the counties.

They will be providing those updates to us here.

And when we compile all that information and our staff here will submit that as a request up to the governor's office.

And he would forward that on to FEMA for their consideration.

So as I go over the recovery process, it is a complicated process and we know it's a drawn out process.

But as the damage assessments begin this week, make sure you're communicating well with your local officials and getting that information to them so that they can provide that information to us.

So we have a whole picture of the entire damage that we've endured through this last storm.

Just last week, the Biden administration approved federal help for Kentucky after storms that happened the first week of April.

Those storms included straight line winds, tornadoes and mudslides that affected 11 Kentucky counties.

One person in Kenton County died as a result of that severe weather.