Breaking News: Dozens of devastating tornadoes in Kentucky roared through six US states overnight, leaving more than 80 people dead and dozens missing Saturday in what President Joe Biden said was likely to be “one of the largest” storm outbreaks in American history.
“It’s a tragedy,” a shaken Biden said in televised comments. “And we still don’t know how many lives are lost and the full extent of the damage.”
As the cold night fell Saturday, scores of search and rescue officials were helping stunned citizens across the US heartland sift through the rubble of their homes and businesses, desperately searching for any more survivors.
More than 70 people are believed to have been killed in Kentucky alone, many of them were workers at a candle factory, while at least six died in an Amazon warehouse in Illinois where they were on the night shift processing orders ahead of Christmas.
Tornadoes in Kentucky
The tornadoes in Kentucky have killed at least 80 people so far.
State Governor Andy Beshear said “This event is the worst, most devastating, most deadly tornado event in Kentucky’s history,” adding he fears “we will have lost more than 100 people.”
“The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life, and I have trouble putting it into words,” he told reporters.
Beshear has declared a state of emergency in the state.
https://twitter.com/mitchell_knight/status/1469656473068265479
The western Kentucky town of Mayfield was reduced to “matchsticks,” its mayor Kathy O’Nan told local media outlets.
Breaking News – State Emergency – Mayfield ground zero
The small town of 10,000 people was described as “ground zero” by officials, and appeared post-apocalyptic: city blocks levelled; historic homes and buildings beaten down to their slabs; tree trunks stripped of their branches; cars overturned in fields.
Some Christmas decorations could still be seen by the side of the road.
Beshear said there were some 110 people working at the candle factory when the storm hit, causing the roof to collapse.
Forty people have been rescued, but it would be “a miracle if anybody else is found alive,” he said.
People trapped inside a buildings
“We are trapped, please, y’all, get us some help,” a woman says, her voice quavering as a co-worker can be heard moaning in the background.
“We are at the candle factory in Mayfield… Please, y’all. Pray for us.”
The woman, Kyanna Parsons-Perez, was rescued after being pinned under a water fountain.
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