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. The latest death toll from the devastating tornadoes stood at nearly 50 early Monday, according to an NBC News tally.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for Kentucky, providing federal aid to those in at least eight counties after the storm destroyed homes and left thousands without power.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
Officials were struggling to count the dead due to the “level of devastation” in the area, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said late Sunday at an evening news conference.
Dozens of families were mourning, with the Kentucky governor among them as he confirmed that he too had lost loved ones in the storm.
Many others were still waiting to hear whether family members had survived, with spotty cell phone service in affected areas making it even more difficult to determine who was still missing.
“I’m really sorry,” Beshear said to those still searching for answers. “You’re not supposed to lose people like this, and to not know and not have the information has got to make it that much harder.”
Death toll could be as high as 100
As of early Monday morning, at least 35 people had been confirmed dead in Kentucky following the storm, according to an NBC News tally.
But there was uncertainty over how high the final tally may be.
Beshear said that the true death toll could be anywhere from around 50 to 100 people.
“The best that we can hope for would be the 50, but I think it’s going to be significantly worse than that,” he said. “Remember, we’re still finding bodies. I mean, we’ve got cadaver dogs in towns that they shouldn’t have to be in.”
“This is the deadliest tornado event we have ever had,” Beshear said. “I think it’s going to be the longest and deadliest tornado event in U.S. history.”
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.”
Dec. 12, 202101:47
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 three-year-old child was also confirmed to be among Kentucky’s dead, with two other counties losing at least a dozen of their 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.”
Meanwhile, 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.
Dec. 11, 202101:53
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 cell phone 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.
‘A plan to move forward’
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 at Sunday’s 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.”
Beshear said he suspected that “thousands” of homes had been lost in the disaster.
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.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
