Tornadoes slam Midwest, South; dozens feared dead: LIVE UPDATES
Deadly tornadoes tore through several Midwestern and Southern states overnight Friday. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear estimated that more than 70 are dead after a candle factory in Mayfield with around 110 people inside was flattened.
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President Biden on Sunday declared that a major disaster exits in Kentucky after the state was battered Saturday by four tornadoes—including one with a 200-mile path of destruction that left at least 80 dead in the state.
Biden’s declaration makes federal funding available to individuals who have been impacted by the storm in eight counties in the state. The assistance will include grants for temporary housing “home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.”
Workers on the night shift at Mayfield Consumer Products were in the middle of the holiday rush, cranking out candles, when a tornado closed in on the factory and the word went out: "Duck and cover."
Autumn Kirks pulled down her safety goggles and took shelter, tossing aside wax and fragrance buckets to make room. She glanced away from her boyfriend, Lannis Ward, and when she looked back, he was gone.
Gov. Andy Beshear initially said Saturday that only 40 of the 110 people working in the factory at the time were rescued, and that "it’ll be a miracle if anybody else is found alive in it." But on Sunday, the candle company said that while eight were confirmed dead and eight remained missing, more than 90 others had been located.
Dozens of people in several Kentucky counties are still believed to have died in the storms, but Beshear, after saying Sunday morning the state’s toll could exceed 100, said that afternoon it might be as low as 50.
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A spokesperson for Mayfield Consumer Products in Kentucky said on Sunday that eight people working in the candle factory on Friday night have died, and another eight are still missing. A tornado went through the area on Friday night.
The spokesperson said that more than 90 workers have been located.
Initially, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Saturday that 40 of the 110 people working in the candle factory were rescued and that it'd be "a miracle if anybody else is found alive in it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said that bodies are still being found as recovery efforts are underway in the state.
The governor also said that thousands of people in the state are currently without homes.
"Thousands of people without homes. We don't have an exact number of of houses because right now we're trying to count people," Beshear said.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has requested a major disaster declaration in response to the severe weather that went through the state on Friday, according to officials during a press conference on Sunday.
FEMA remains in "life-saving and life-sustaining mode" as of Sunday, as search and rescue teams scour the debris left by a deadly tornado outbreak that swept across six states in the Midwest and South, with Kentucky bearing the brunt of the damage and devastation.
Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, offered prayers following the "record-breaking tragedy that has left so many families displaced."
"What we are hearing is we are still in the life-saving and life-sustaining mode," Criswell said during an appearance on ABC’s "This Week." "We're still in search and rescue and we're sending additional resources in to help locate anybody who still may be trapped."
Criswell told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos the next two days will focus on finding those trapped beneath the rubble before the agency pivots to a "long recovery" process in addressing communities’ immediate need for shelter, then longer term housing and finally rebuilding.
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A decades-old photo reported to belong to a family from Kentucky has been found over 150 miles away in Indiana after a swarm of tornados carved through the region on Friday night.
Katie Posten said that she found something that looked like a note or receipt stuck to the windshield of her car Saturday morning.
It turned out to be neither.
Instead, Posten learned it was a black and white photo of a woman in a striped sundress and headscarf holding a little boy in her lap. On the back, written in cursive, it said, “Gertie Swatzell & J.D. Swatzell 1942."
Posten, a 30-year-old tech company worker, shared the photo on social media and asked for help finding its owners.
Cole Swatzell, a man who was tagged in Posten's Facebook post, commented that the photo belonged to family members in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, almost 130 miles away from New Albany, Indiana, as the crow flies, and 167 miles away by car.
Posten plans to return the photo to the Swatzell family sometime this week.
“It’s really remarkable, definitely one of those things, given all that has happened, that makes you consider how valuable things are — memories, family heirlooms, and those kinds of things,” Posten said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Crews in Kentucky are continuing to shift through the wreckage of a candle factory that collapsed during a tornado as dozens of workers remain missing beneath the rubble.
There were 110 people working in the factory in Mayfield overnight Friday when the storm hit and smashed apart the building. Forty of them have been rescued as of Saturday.
“I pray that there will be another rescue. I pray that there will be another one or two,” Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday as rescue teams used heavy machinery to move the wreckage at the site.
Jeremy Creason, the city’s fire chief and EMS director, described the dire conditions crews were facing in the desperate search for survivors.
“We had to, at times, crawl over casualties to get to live victims,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The death toll in Kentucky rose to at least 80 on Sunday morning as crews continue to search the wreckage in the wake of a tornado that touched down for more than 200 miles Friday night, Gov. Andy Beshear’s office told Fox News Digital on Sunday morning.
"The confirmation process is slow, but from reports received we've lost more than 80. That number is likely to exceed 100," the governor’s office said in an email.
On Saturday, Beshear announced the creation of a tornado relief fund for the western part of the state and also called on people to donate blood, which has been running in short supply during the pandemic.
“There are going to be a lot of deaths," Beshear said. “There are also going to be a lot of injuries."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A rare December tornado that carved a path of destruction through four states in four hours could go down in history as the longest continuous tornado that the U.S. has ever seen.
The twister, dubbed the "quad- state tornado" after slamming communities in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky, was part of a swarm that erupted across the Midwest and Southeast overnight Friday.
If early reports are confirmed, the twister “will likely go down perhaps as one of the longest track violent tornadoes in United States history,” said Victor Gensini, a researcher on extreme weather at Northern Illinois University.
Gensini said this twister may have touched down for nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers).
The longest tornado currently on record touched down in March 1925, and tracked for about 220 miles (355 kilometers) through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
The Friday storm was all the more remarkable because it came in December, when normally colder weather limits tornadoes, according to Gensini.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the deployment of the state’s Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Resources to Kentucky to help after a swarm of tornados left a trail of destruction and death for more than 200 miles.
The mobilization comes at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as officials estimate that at least 70 people were killed in Kentucky alone, according to a news release from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The “specialized” personnel include two California/FEMA US&R Incident Support members from the Sacramento City Fire Department and the Orange County Fire Authority, officials said. These specialists will help in the coordination of the state and national search and rescue teams.
Rescue crews were continuing to use heavy equipment to move the rubble at a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, where 110 people were working overnight Friday when the storm hit.
Other disaster-aid and humanitarian groups have also mobilized to help tornado victims and set up a dedicated fund for donations to support their efforts.
The groups include the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse.
A tornado caused the derailment of a CSX freight train on Friday night in Kentucky, resulting in damage to multiple houses, according to reports.
The derailment occurred in Earlington, Hopkins County. There were no reports of injuries, the Courier Journal of Louisville reported.
A total of 28 train cars left the tracks because of severe weather, a CSX spokesperson told Fox News. No harmful substances were released, the spokesman added.
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President Biden Saturday said he had called the governors of the states affected by Friday night's tornadoes and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, which was devastated by the storms.
"[First Lady] Jill [Biden] and I pray ... for those who have lost loved ones and for those who are uncertain of the fate of their loved ones," Biden said in a news conference, adding that he told them the federal government would do "everything" it can to help.
Disaster-aid and humanitarian groups are mobilizing to help tornado victims and setting up dedicated fund for donations to support their efforts.
Here's a look at some of the relief being provided and ways to donate.
The American Red Cross is making it easy to send a quick $10 donation simply by texting "REDCROSS" addressed to the number, 90999. Other donations can be made by calling 800-733-2767 or visiting redcross.org online.
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