Mayfield (US): Over 70 people may have lost their lives after tornadoes ripped through the five states in the United States of America. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear stated that the tornado left widespread devastation.
While President Joe Biden tweeted on Saturday that he was briefed on the situation and pledged the affected states would have what they need as the search for survivors and damage assessments continue."
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear further stated that the twister touched down for more than 200 miles in Kentucky and the death toll may rise to 100 across 10 or more counties.
He termed this tornado as the most devastating in the state's history at a press conference on Saturday.
He recalled that over 110 people were in the Mayfield factory when the tornado hit. Similarly, the storms hit a candle factory in Kentucky, an Amazon facility in Illinois and a nursing home in Arkansas.
Officials had confirmed 18 deaths by late morning, but he said the toll was certain to rise, with at least 10 people feared dead in his state's Muhlenberg County and an undetermined number in and around the city of Bowling Green.
Rescue teams were using heavy equipment to move rubble at the candle factory in western Kentucky, disclosed Kentucky State Police Trooper Sarah Burgess. Coroners were called to the scene and bodies were retrieved, but she didn't know how many. She said it could take a day and more longer to remove all of the rubble.
Rescue measures were complicated because Mayfield's main fire station and emergency services hub were also hit by the tornado, according to Jeremy Creason, the city's fire chief and EMS director.
"We have been working tirelessly through the night. We had to at times crawl over casualties to get to victims to get them out."
Many buildings in downtown Mayfield were destroyed while the tornado sheered the roofs off some, downed trees and left debris scattered across the area.
Kyana Parsons-Perez, an employee at the factory, was trapped under five feet (about 1.5 meters) of debris for at least two hours until rescuers managed to free her.
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 Hispanic workers praying in Spanish.
Among those who helped rescue the trapped workers were inmates from the nearby Graves County Jail, she said. They could have used that moment to try to run away or anything, but they did not. They were there, helping us, she said. Elsewhere in Graves County, the landscape was a scene of devastation with uprooted trees, downed utility poles, a store destroyed and homes severely damaged.
