Over 80 people killed after tornadoes hit central and southern US
Storms unleashed devastating tornadoes late Friday and early Saturday across parts of the central and southern United States, collapsing buildings into twisted debris and claiming lives, with officials fearing the death toll could exceed 80.
In Kentucky alone, the state's governor says more than 70 people could have died after "one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history."
Among the most significant damage: Tornadoes or strong winds collapsed an occupied candle factory in Kentucky, an Amazon warehouse in western Illinois, and a nursing home in Arkansas, killing people in each community and leaving responders scrambling to rescue others.
More than 30 tornadoes have been reported in at least six states, including Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi. Meteorologists say that a stretch of more than 250 miles from Arkansas to Kentucky might have been hit by one violent, long-track twister.
"I'm pretty sure that number (killed in Kentucky) is north of 70 ... it may, in fact, exceed 100 before the day is done," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said late Saturday morning. "The level of devastation is unlike anything I have ever seen."
One of the most devastating sites is the southwestern Kentucky city of Mayfield, where a tornado hit the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory Friday night while people were working. About 110 people were inside and dozens are feared dead there, Beshear said.
They rescued 40," Beshear said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. "There's at least 15 feet of metal with cars on top of it, barrels of corrosive chemicals that are there, it will be a miracle if anybody else is found alive in it."
The governor said he also visited Dawson Springs, his father's hometown, with a population of about 2,700 where he says, "they're going to lose a whole lot of people."
"One block from my grandparent's house, there's no house standing and we don't know where all those people are," Beshear said.
Video from Mayfield showed what remained of the factory there: a massive debris field, largely of twisted metal, several feet high, with rescuers using hands and machines to dig through.
Among the survivors were Kyanna Parsons-Perez, who said workers had been hustled to a safe area before the storm hit. While attendance was being taken, she saw "a little dust of wind." There is one person who remains missing in Lake County, Tennessee, TEMA chief of staff Alex Pellom said during a news conference.
Gov. Bill Lee said there could have been many more fatalities from the storms, but warnings helped.
"The residents of those communities were notified of the danger and notified of the imminence of these storms. And in many of the cases, we know that there were significant evacuations in the communities. We really know that that reduced the loss of life in our state," he said.
"So, I just want to remind people that being prepared and heeding warnings it's very clear today that was a part of why we had the limited amount of loss of life in spite of the significant amount of damage," Lee said.
Officials confirmed two storm-related deaths in Missouri.
"In St. Charles County, a woman was killed at home and two others were hospitalized. In Pemiscot County, a young child was killed at home and at least nine people were transported to hospitals," Gov. Mike Parson's office said in a news release.
"We are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life caused by this powerful-sustained storm system, and we are praying for the family and friends of those we have lost," Parson said.
St. Charles County emergency management official Mary Enger earlier said that an 84-year-old woman died during overnight storms in the community of Defiance.
More than 400,000 homes and businesses lost power across eight states in the South and Midwest by 10 a.m. ET Saturday, including more than 130,000 in Tennessee and more than 60,000 in Kentucky, according to poweroutage.us.
The longest stretch of devastation ranged more than 250 miles from Arkansas to Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. That stretch might have been hit by one long-track tornado, meteorologists said.
If it was one tornado, its path may have exceeded the longest on record: a tornado that was on the ground for 219 miles in 1925 in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
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