Newsman: It is first time ever in county’s history as 40 tornadoes reported over the weekend that killed at least 34 people across five U.S. states. There were at least 40 tornadoes reported across nine states between Friday night and early Saturday morning — unusual for December in the United States. Rescuers continued to search for survivors Monday after deadly tornadoes tore through Kentucky and neighboring states over the weekend, decimating entire towns and leaving dozens dead. The series of unseasonal storms ripped through several states across the Midwest and South overnight on Friday, leveling a candle factory and entire communities in Kentucky while also hitting a nursing home in Arkansas and an Amazon distribution center in Illinois.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Kentucky, providing federal aid to those in at least eight counties after the storm destroyed homes and left thousands without power.
U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Kentucky on Saturday, ordering federal assistance to support the local response efforts. On Sunday night, Biden updated the declaration, making federal funding available to affected individuals in the Kentucky counties of Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Hopkins, Marshall, Muhlenberg, Taylor and Warren. He also made it possible for residents to get assistance, such as grants for temporary housing or business repairs.
Kentucky was the worst-hit state, with at least 70 people were likely dead. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday that 64 people in the state were confirmed dead. He added that 105 people were unaccounted for, and at least 70 people were likely dead.
“But again, with this amount of damage and rubble, it will be a week or even more before we have a final count on the number of lost lives,” he said.
Of those who are dead, 18 are unidentified. But the ones who have been identified range in age from five months to 86 years, Beshear said, his voice cracking. Six of the dead are younger than 18.
Across five U.S. states total confirmed 64 people have been confirmed dead after a swarm of tornadoes tore through communities across the South and the Midwest.
A tornadic supercell left an extraordinarily long path of destruction — about 200 miles long — as it swept across four states on Friday night. It was unclear whether the storm involved one or multiple violent tornadoes that moved along the path.
A tornadic supercell left an extraordinarily long path of destruction — about 200 miles long — as it swept across four states on Friday night. It was unclear whether the storm involved one or multiple violent tornadoes that moved along the path.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear warned Sunday that the death toll from what he described as “the most devastating tornado event in our state’s history” could exceed 100, but then later said the tally might be closer to 50. Two of his relatives were among those killed.
Beshear said at least 300 members of the Kentucky National Guard have been deployed across the state to help remove debris and search for survivors as well as victims.
“We are still hoping for miracles,” the governor told ABC News’ David Muir on Sunday. “We are finding people and every single moment is incredible.”
“This is going to take years to rebuild,” he added.
“This is the deadliest tornado event we have ever had,” Beshear said Sunday. At least eight people were confirmed dead after the roof of a candle factory in Mayfield collapsed, with survivors describing harrowing scenes.
Mayfield Mayor Kathy Stewart O’Nan told NBC’s “Nightly News” that the town “is gone.”
“We knew it was bad, but not till the sun started coming up did we look at it and saw matchsticks,” she said. “Our hearts are broken.”
And Mayfield was not the only town left destroyed by the disaster, with Beshear telling CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday: “I’ve got towns that are gone,” including half of his father’s hometown, Dawson Springs. In Graves County, a 3-year-old child was also confirmed to be among Kentucky’s dead, with two other counties losing at least a dozen community members to the storm. While Kentucky was the hardest hit state, the devastation tore beyond its borders, with several people killed in Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas.
In Illinois, at least six people were confirmed dead after an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville was decimated. Amazon founder and Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos said in a tweet on Saturday that he and others were “heartbroken over the loss of our teammates there.”
In Tennessee there were at least four confirmed deaths, with two killed in Missouri including a young child. In Arkansas, at least two people were confirmed dead, including one person at a nursing home in Monette.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he and his team visited western Kentucky on Sunday.
Describing the devastation, he said: “The pictures don’t do the travesty justice. There’s nothing like seeing it up close and personal.”
“It was nothing but rubble,” he continued. “We saw, there, a backpack recovered, an individual’s shoe, a cellphone that had 27 missed calls recorded on it.” He said survivors are being provided with water, food, clothing and blankets and will be reimbursed for temporary housing.
Michael Dossett, director of the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, has said efforts are already underway to start rebuilding following the weekend’s disaster. Speaking Sunday at a news conference, he said officials were in the process of drafting “a plan to move forward, bringing new housing construction.” However, he said he also wanted to manage expectations, warning “this doesn’t happen overnight.”
In Mayfield, residents told NBC News that they were ready to rebuild as they grappled with the devastating loss of their homes and businesses.
“There’s nothing left here. So, all we can do is just clean up and start again,” Wayne Flint, whose family restaurant was flattened in the disaster, said. “That’s what we’re going to do. … I don’t know what else to do.” “It’s going to get better. … Neighbors help neighbors. We’re going to be back,” another resident said. Governor Beshear said he suspected that “thousands” of homes had been lost.
The governor said he was grateful for “the outpouring of support” his state has received from across the country. And he said he hoped Americans would see in Kentucky “a state that cares” about each other. “It’s willing to grieve with one another, too, but it’s strong enough to rebuild,” he said.
Among the dead were eight night-shift workers at a candle factory in Mayfield, a city of about 10,000 people in western Kentucky. There were 110 employees inside the Mayfield Consumer Products facility when a tornado closed in late Friday night. Ninety-four workers have been accounted for, while eight remain missing, Mayfield Consumer Products CEO Troy Propes told ABC News.
One of the survivors, Kyanna Parsons, recalled hunkering down at the candle factory with her coworkers when the tornado hit. She said she felt a gust of wind and her ears popped. The lights flickered before going out completely and the roof of the building suddenly collapsed, she said.
“Everybody just starts screaming,” Parsons told ABC News on Sunday.
“I definitely had the fear that I wasn’t gonna make it,” she added. “It’s a miracle any of us got out of there.”
Mayfield Mayor Kathy Stewart O’Nan said she was at the scene of the destroyed factory the following morning. She saw first responders from Louisiville, Kentucky’s largest city, more than 200 miles away, “who had already gotten there, who had got in their trucks as quick as they could and come to help us.”
“The offers from all over the United States are overwhelming,” O’Nan told ABC News’ Robin Roberts on Monday. “We are so blessed with the state and federal support.”
The mayor said her city lost its sewage treatment plant and a water tower, in addition to many homes and businesses. Mayfield still has no power, natural gas or flowing water, according to O’Nan.
“The immediate needs of our city people and our responders are being met with just wonderful donations,” she said. “But our infrastructure is damaged so severely that getting that up and running is our absolute greatest priority at this time.”
O’Nan, who lives about four blocks from the center of the city’s downtown area, said she knew from watching the news last week that this storm would be “different.”
“This was not a storm that us Kentuckians like to go out on the porch and watch roll by,” she said.
When the tornado touched down on Friday night, O’Nan said she took shelter in the basement of her home and waited there until she heard it pass overhead.
“That is a horrifying sound that I hope I never hear again,” she said.
A few minutes later, O’Nan said, she got a call from the city’s fire chief saying the couldn’t get the firetrucks or ambulances out of the bay at the fire station, because the doors wouldn’t open. He ultimately had to attach a chain to his truck to pry the doors wide so firefighters and emergency workers could be deployed out into the field, according to O’Nan.
“To watch them work tirelessly as they have during the last two days so far has just been heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time,” the mayor said.
“When I’m ever asked what’s the greatest asset of our community, it is always our people,” she added. “We’ve had small tragedies before and every time immediately the people bond together. I’ve seen that so much now, but we’re joined by so many people from all across the commonwealth, all across the United States.”
A tornadic supercell left an extraordinarily long path of destruction — about 200 miles long — as it swept across four states on Friday night. It was unclear whether the storm involved one or multiple violent tornadoes that moved along the path.
On average, there are 69 tornado-related fatalities in the U.S. each year, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The deadliest tornado on record to hit Kentucky occurred on March 27, 1890. There were 76 deaths.
