Kentucky tornadoes: At least 100 feared dead as storms sweep across US midwest

Sami Quadri12 December 2021

At least 100 people are feared dead as severe storms and dozens of tornadoes swept across the midwest of the United States.

In Kentucky alone, 22 deaths were confirmed on Saturday evening, including 11 in and around the city of Bowling Green.

President Joe Biden said the government will do everything it possibly can to help affected areas.

Mr Biden has signed a Federal Emergency Disaster Declaration, releasing funds for Kentucky. He said the storms were among the largest in US history.

“The federal government will do everything it can possibly do to help,” he said. “We’re going to get through this together.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said upwards of 70 people may have been killed when a twister caused chaos for more than 200 miles.

The twister carved a track that could rival the longest on record as the stormfront smashed apart a candle factory, leaving dozens dead and communities in despair.

*** BESTPIX *** Swath Of Tornadoes Tear Through Midwest
Aerial view of Mayfield, Kentucky
Getty Images

Crews sifted through the wreckage of the candle factory in Mayfield, where 100 people were working overnight on Friday when the storm hit. Forty of them were rescued.

“We had to, at times, crawl over casualties to get to live victims,” said Jeremy Creason, the city’s fire chief and EMS director.

Currently, 36 deaths have been recorded in five states including six people in Illinois, where an Amazon warehouse was hit; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed; and two in Missouri.

Mayfield, Kentucky
REUTERS

Parts of Mayfield, in western Kentucky, were covered in debris after the tornado destroyed buildings and shredded trees.

Twisted metal sheeting, downed power lines and wrecked vehicles lined the streets. Windows and roofs were blown off the buildings that were still standing.

Many remain missing in the candle factory including Janine Denise Johnson Williams, a 50-year-old mother-of-four whose family members were seen at the site on Saturday.

"It’s Christmastime and she works at a place that’s making candles for gifts," her brother, Darryl Williams, said. "To give up the gift of life to make a gift. We haven’t heard anything, and I’m not presuming anything. But I’m expecting for the worst."

Emergency crews outside a damaged Amazon.com, Inc warehouse after a tornado passed through Edwardsville, Illinois.
CHRIS PHILLIPS via REUTERS

He said Johnson Williams called her husband overnight to report the weather was getting bad, the last time anyone heard from her

Kyanna Parsons-Perez, an employee at the factory, was trapped under 5 feet of debris for at least two hours until rescuers managed to free her.

In an interview with NBC’s "Today," she said it was "absolutely the most terrifying" event she had ever experienced. "I did not think I was going to make it at all."

Just before the tornado struck, the building’s lights flickered. She felt a gust of wind, her ears started popping and then, "Boom. Everything came down on us." People started screaming, and she heard other workers praying.

Kentucky State Trooper Sarah Burgess said rescue crews were using heavy equipment to move rubble at the candle factory. Coroners were called to the scene and bodies were recovered, but she didn’t know how many.

Rescue efforts were complicated because Mayfield’s main fire station and emergency services hub were also hit by the tornado, Creason said.

After a wall at a nursing home in Mayfield collapsed, Vernon Evans said he rushed to help firefighters pull people out, only to find one resident lying dead in a few inches of water.

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