More than 70 people are thought to have been killed after at least 18 tornadoes hit the Central and Southern US on Friday, with Kentucky the hardest hit.
At a briefing on Saturday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said that the death toll was now “north of 70’ and that ‘it may in fact end up exceeding 100 before the day is done.”
He continued: “This will be, I believe, the deadliest tornado system to ever run through Kentucky. It is indescribable. The level of devastation is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
At a press conference early Saturday morning, Beshear said: “As of 4:45am [CST] 56,854 Kentuckians are without power. I have been personally over at the emergency operations center since about 1am overseeing our response and hearing and absorbing the difficult news in real time.
“This has been one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history and some areas have been hit in ways that is hard to put into words.”
He continued: “Before midnight, I declared a state of emergency. I’ve activated the national guard. We are deploying 181 guardsmen including search and extraction and debris clearing folks.”
The most recent casualty is the deadliest tornado strike in the state in 130 years. The epicenter of the damage was Mayfield, a small city of about 10,000 people.
Buildings and houses were ripped apart, courthouse tower shredded, entire blocks flattened, and bricks scattered all over the streets.
“We’re going to lose a lot of lives at that facility. I pray that there will be another rescue, another one or two, but it’s a very dire situation at this point,” the emotional governor said.
In southern Illinois, at least two people were killed and more than 50 people were trapped after a roof at an Amazon warehouse near St. Louis collapsed when strong storms and tornadoes hit the area.
Three people died in Tennessee, said Dean Flener, the spokesman for the Emergency Management Agency of the state.
Another person was killed in Missouri and at least two people died and five were injured in Monette in northern Arkansas.
Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Roger Edward said: “Unfortunately it produced a couple of deadly tornadoes along the way. One of them may have been a long-track tornado.
“The killer tornado was part of that.”
The White House said in a statement: “The President has directed that Federal resources be surged immediately to the locations where there is the greatest need to alleviate suffering from the devastating consequences of these storms.”
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