US tornado kills at least 94 in race to find survivors

MAYFIELD: UNITED STATES: US emergency workers searched for survivors of a brutal late-night tornado that killed at least 94 people in several states and left cities in ruins, including Kentucky candle factories The wreckage is also included, indicating widespread devastation. ,
But state governor Andy Beshear warned that searches at that facility in Mayfield – a town that had been almost entirely wiped out by the twins – could be in vain, acknowledging that “another rescue” may not be there. Is.
President Joe Biden called the tornado wave one of the “largest” hurricane outbreaks in US history, adding, “We still don’t know how many lives were lost and the full extent of the damage.” “
He sent the heads of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Kentucky to assess the situation, and promised a full range of federal aid.
The death toll is sure to rise, with many search and rescue officials helping stunned civilians through the rubble of their homes and businesses in the US heartland.
More than 80 people have died in Kentucky alone, many of them Mayfield factory workers, Beshear said on Sunday as he confirmed 10 deaths.
“That number is going to be over 100,” Beshear told CNN.
Beshear said that of the 110 workers working Friday night at the candle factory, “about 40 of them have been rescued and I’m not sure we’re going to see another rescue.”
“I pray for it. It will be an incredible miracle.”
Meanwhile, at least six people died at an Amazon warehouse in the southern Illinois city of Edwardsville, where they were on orders to process the night shift before Christmas.
Emergency workers worked at both locations from night to Sunday, and FEMA agents and Red Cross volunteers were on the scene in Kentucky.
But Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford – having pulled six dead and 45 safely out of the building – told reporters that the operation had changed from rescue to focus “only on recovery”, raising fears of the toll rising. .

The power of the Hurricane system kept it in historic company.
Storm trackers said it had dropped debris 30,000 feet (9,100 meters) into the air, and the deadly Mayfield twister broke a nearly century-old record, tracking more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) of land.
As Americans grappled with the enormity of the disaster, Pope Francis said he was praying “for the victims of the tornado in Kentucky”.
Biden’s Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin took a break from strained bilateral ties, saying his country “shares in the grief” of those who lost loved ones.
The disaster has rocked many Americans, including officials working through other major storms.
“This event is the worst, most devastating, deadliest tornado event in Kentucky history,” Beshear said Saturday.
“The devastation is unlike anything I’ve seen in my life.”

Mayfield, a town of about 10,000 near the westernmost tip of Kentucky, was reduced to “matchboxes,” said its mayor, Cathy O’Nan.
Still, she told NBC on Sunday, there is “always hope” of finding survivors among the missing.
“We expect a miracle.”
But while a non-denominational church in Mayfield was handing out food and clothing to storm survivors, it was also providing a place for the county coroner to do his job, His House Ministries pastor Stephen Boyken told AFP.
People “come in with photographs, birthmarks – they now talk about using DNA samples to identify lost people,” he said.
Troy Propps, the CEO of the company that owned the candle factory, defended his decision not to close it as the storm approached.
“We did everything that was about to happen,” he told CNN on Sunday. “My heart bleeds for absolutely everyone.”
Mayfield was described as “Ground Zero” by authorities, and appeared post-apocalyptic: city blocks were leveled, historic homes and buildings were beaten to their slabs, with trees strung from their branches. The stems were stripped and the cars were turned over in the fields.
Some Christmas decorations could still be seen on the side of the road.
David Norsworthy, a 69-year-old builder in Mayfield, said the storm blew up their roof and front porch while the family hid in a shelter.
“We’ve never had anything like this here,” he told AFP.

The report puts the total number of tornadoes in the entire region at around 30.
At least 14 people were killed in other hurricane-affected states, including six at an Amazon facility in Illinois.
Four were killed in Tennessee, two in Arkansas, while two deaths were recorded in Missouri. Tornadoes also knocked in Mississippi.
Biden said he planned to travel to the affected areas.
“This is going to be our new normal. And the impact we are seeing from climate change is the crisis of our generation,” Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Dean Criswell told CNN on Sunday.