Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, the largest tornado to have ripped through six states and killed at least 90 people, “will certainly be the longest tornado in American history from where it was eventually lifted back up.”
Speaking at a news conference Sunday afternoon, Beshear said of the tornado’s more than 220 miles of destruction, “200 of them are in my state, as well as our people who are suffering from it.”
At least three tornadoes are believed to have struck Kentucky Friday night, with the governor saying, “I think we now believe many, many more.”
The Governor said that at least 300 National Guard members have been deployed in the state. “They are going door to door, however, many of these communities no longer have doors. They are going from rubble to rubble,” he said, searching for survivors and other victims.
The governor said more than $2 million has been donated to help with recovery efforts. He said the first installment of the grant would be given to help cover the cost of the funeral.
“We are still looking for the bodies,” Beshear said. “I mean, we have cadaver dogs in towns that they shouldn’t be.”
A candle factory after a series of tornadoes in Mayfield, Ky., December 12, 2021. (Johnny Milano/The New York Times)
Beshear declined to say how many people were killed as a result of the tornado, but added, “We expect the death toll to be significant.” He later added: “The debris is widespread as we continue to try to get through it.”
Scores of people remained unaccounted for on Sunday, but their chances of survival were dwindling as recovery workers in the middle of the country resumed their search efforts.
Bill Bunting, chief of operations for the Storm Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service, said tornadoes hit states including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
The tornado outbreak killed people who were working Friday night shifts at a candle factory outside Mayfield, Kentucky, where scores are believed to have been killed, and at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, where At least six people were killed. On Sunday, officials in Edwardsville, Illinois, said there were no further reports of people missing inside an Amazon facility, but efforts were on to search for additional victims.
While the destruction spread throughout western Kentucky, the majority of the estimated fatalities came from the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory near Mayfield. Officials there described an almost immeasurable level of destruction in a single building, a knot of concrete and metal with cars and 55-gallon drums leaking corrosive fluids.
The Mayor of Mayfield, Cathy Stewart O’Nan, said she walked around the city on Sunday “the morning after this terrible disaster” and saw the city’s government complex and the local fire station had been destroyed.
“I don’t think any vehicle or property owned by the city has a pane of glass that hasn’t shattered,” Stewart said. He continued: “There was a lot of debris. I saw the city, and, I’ve said it before, it looked like a match. And I cried.”
An excavator clears building debris from an Amazon warehouse hit by a tornado in Edwardsville, Ill., December 11, 2021. Dozens were feared dead, and communities across the Midwest and southern United States were left unprepared to assess the damage. Strong thunderstorms and storms hit five states on Saturday morning. (Nita Satam/The New York Times)
The governor of Kentucky praised federal officials for what he said was a quick and thorough response. A federal emergency has been declared, the governor said, adding that it was “rare” that it was enforced “incredibly quickly”.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Meyerkas and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Dean Criswell joined Beshear on Sunday.
“I want to thank all of them,” Beshear said at the news conference. “And begins with the president, who called me three times yesterday alone.”
But the damage extended far beyond Kentucky.
In Tennessee, at least four people were confirmed dead, with the most damage being reported in the northwestern corner of the state. In Arkansas, one person was killed at a Dollar General Store in Leachville, and a 94-year-old man was killed when a tornado struck a nursing home in downtown Monet.
And in Missouri, at least two people died: a woman in St. Charles County and a child in Pemiscott County.
At least six people were killed at an Amazon warehouse after a tornado sparked direct fire at around 8:30 p.m. Friday, officials in Edwardsville, Illinois, a small town across the Mississippi River from St. Two of the 40 people in the building died. – Feet high concrete walls collapsed.
“We don’t expect anyone to survive,” said Edwardsville Fire Department Chief James Whiteford.
The chief said the tornado came at the time of shifting and it was not clear how many people might have been in the building.