KENTUCKY Governor Andy Beshear in United States (U.S.) said no fewer than 80 had died in his state alone, bringing the confirmed death toll across ravaged states to 94.
Authorities yesterday spoke of the vast devastation across multiple states in the wake of a burst of deadly tornadoes this weekend that ravaged communities and levelled towns.
Rescuers picked up through the splintered ruins yesterday after several tornadoes wrought devastation on several southern U.S. states and the lower Midwest on Friday.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll in his state alone rose to at least 80 overnight, bringing the overall death toll across several states to at least 94.
Most of the confirmed deaths in Kentucky were of workers at a candle factory, where 110 were working round the clock to fulfill Christmas demand at the time the twister hit.
On Sunday authorities reported rescuing 40 of the workers who were in the building at the time, but by yesterday, hope of finding anyone else alive had all but evaporated.
The governor said that it would be “a miracle” if more people are rescued. “It’s now 15 feet deep of steel and cars on top of where the roof was.”
“I’ve got towns that are gone,” Beshear told CNN.
He added, “My dad’s home town, Paxton, isn’t standing. It is hard to describe.”
“You think you can go door to door to check on people and see if they’re OK – there are no doors,” Beshear said.
Many towns appeared levelled, with television showing drone footage virtually indistinguishable from a war zone where the munitions are mother nature.
But the director of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Deanne Criswall, said “there is still hope” of finding survivors in the vast wreckage.
Yesterday, Pope Francis extended prayers “for the victims of the tornado that hit Kentucky.”
In Edwardsville, Illinois, six workers were dead after the partial collapse of an Amazon warehouse where they were working the overnight shift processing orders ahead of Christmas.
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