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Dozens of people are dead, and search efforts are ongoing after a historic tornado outbreak and rounds of severe weather ripped through several states Friday and Saturday.
Bodies were pulled from a candle factory destroyed in Kentucky, and deaths were confirmed at an Amazon facility that was ripped apart in Illinois and a nursing home that was hit in Arkansas.
Deaths were also confirmed in Tennessee and Missouri.
President Joe Biden issued a federal disaster declaration for more than a dozen counties in Kentucky, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.
This morning, I was briefed on the devastating tornadoes across the central U.S. To lose a loved one in a storm like this is an unimaginable tragedy. We’re working with Governors to ensure they have what they need as the search for survivors and damage assessments continue.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 11, 2021
Counties under the declaration include Breckenridge, Bullitt, Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hickman, Hopkins, Lyon, Meade, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Shelby, Spencer, and Warren.
Seventy people remained missing at a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky.
“There’s at least 15 feet of metal with cars on top of it – barrels of corrosive chemicals that are there,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a late afternoon news conference on Saturday. “It’ll be a miracle if anyone else is found alive.”
Beshear estimates between 70 and 100 people – or more – may be dead statewide.
“Beginning late last night and through the very moment that we are standing here, we have lived through some of the toughest hours of our lives as Kentuckians,” Beshear said in a late afternoon news conference. “This event is the worst, most devastating, most deadly tornado event in Kentucky’s history.”
The governor added: “It’s not just because of the property damage. We lost a lot of good people, too … We are going to have lost people of all ages. We are going to lose entire families.”
Some 500,000 homes and businesses were without power in a band of eight states from Michigan to Arkansas as of about 10:45 a.m., according to poweroutage.us. The highest numbers were in Tennessee (143,000), one of the states hit by overnight severe weather, and Michigan (118,000), which has been pummeled by high winds throughout the day.
