Kentucky: Officials said on Monday that at least 74 people were killed in Kentucky by a barrage of tornadoes that ripped through six states, as those who were fortunate enough to escape harm opened their homes to victims whose homes were destroyed, and hundreds of the suddenly homeless sought refuge in shelters.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll was sure to grow because 109 people were still missing.
However, no more people were expected to die as a result of the wrecked candle factory, as a business spokeswoman later stated that only eight people died in the end. Hundreds were thought to be buried beneath the rubble at one time.
Officials reported that after the tornadoes struck unusually late in the year during frigid weather on Friday, 28,000 Kentucky homes and businesses were still without power, and 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.
The deceased varied in age from 5 months to 86 years old, with at least six children among them.
“For a 10-minute period, you go from sadness to shock to resolve, and then you go back,” Beshear remarked, crying up at times.
Authorities have struggled to narrow down the precise death toll among the roller coaster of emotions. Attempts to identify deaths have been confounded by piles of wreckage, mobile service outages, and the large number of individuals hiding with friends and relatives.
The final death toll from Mayfield’s candle factory will be eight, according to business representative Bob Ferguson, because the remaining 102 workers who were on duty when the tornado struck are alive and have been accounted for, a procedure that took three days due to the confusion caused by the accident.
Ferguson told Reuters, “It’s a huge relief.” “Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need to assist individuals who have lost loved ones.”
While the tornadoes wreaked havoc in Kentucky, including one that ripped through 227 miles (365 km) of land, six people died in an Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) warehouse in Illinois, four in Tennessee, and two in Missouri, while a nursing home in Arkansas was struck, resulting in one of the state’s two deaths.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the circumstances behind the collapse of the Amazon plant, and the business has stated that it will cooperate.
Neighbors and volunteers worked across Kentucky to house, feed, and provide any other assistance to people whose homes had been damaged, destroyed, or were without power.
About 90 people, ranging in age from toddlers to the elderly, are sleeping on green cots in a warehouse-like space with low ceilings and a giant standing cross at a community centre linked with a Presbyterian church in the neighbouring town of Wingo.
Since their home’s lights and heat were knocked out, Stephen Jennittie, 52, was living there with his wife, Christie Bonds, their Chihuahua puppy, Mr. Jingles, and roughly 90 other Mayfield residents.
Jennittie recalled how his house trembled during the rumbling noise, and how their survival felt like such a miracle that it rekindled his religious faith.
“I was talking to God and telling my wife that when we get out of here, we’re going to start going to church,” Jennittie, a seventh-generation Mayfield resident, said he may leave a destroyed community he no longer recognises.
“This isn’t the Mayfield where I grew up.”
Collapsed walls, missing roofs, and uprooted trees littered lawns throughout the town.
On Saturday, the Wingo shelter was short on mattresses due to the large number of homeless people. But after one phone call, a local furniture store owner sent in more than two dozen beds, according to Meagan Ralph, 37, a middle-school teacher who was chosen community engagement director after showing up to help over the weekend.
“Some of them are stunned and in a state of disbelief, if not outright denial. For some, the emotion is too much to take “Ralph said.
After declaring a major federal disaster in Kentucky on Sunday, President Joe Biden will try to lift morale with a planned visit to hard-hit towns on Wednesday, including Mayfield, according to the White House.
Late Monday, the president also declared a state of emergency in Tennessee and Illinois, approving federal aid to the two states.
More than 300 individuals are being accommodated in Red Cross shelters in Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee, with the number anticipated to rise. Hundreds more have been temporarily housed in resorts at state parks in the area, according to Kentucky Red Cross Chief Executive Steve Cunanan.
Others stayed with friends and family members whose homes had been spared.
David Hargrove, 62, looked around the ruins of his former law office in downtown Mayfield. A vault built into the 23-year-old building stood as the sole section of the structure that remained erect among the rubble.
He intends to rebuild his home.
“You can either sit and cry or you can get up and move,” Hargrove added. “If I can avoid it, I’m not one to cry.”
