Multiple tornadoes destroyed parts of six central and southern states on Friday night and early Saturday morning, as there are at least 70 dead in Kentucky after a candle factory in Mayfield collapsed.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Saturday that the death toll "could end up exceeding 100 before the day is done." The deadly storms also went through Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
There were 110 people inside the candle factory, and only 40 people had been rescued from the rubble on Saturday afternoon, the governor said.
At least six people died at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, where rescue operations were continuing on Saturday and expected to las another three days. The roof of the warehouse collapsed and one of the walls caved in after storms hit the building. Forty-five people had been rescued from the rubble, but it was unknown how many remain missing.
President Biden said in a speech on Saturday afternoon in Delaware that his administration will do "whatever is needed" to help Kentucky. He signed an emergency declaration for the state, allowing FEMA and other federal agencies to coordinate disaster relief efforts in the state. He plans to visit the affected parts of Kentucky once he had been assured that his visit was “not going to get in the way of the rescue and recovery.”
Additionally, hundreds of thousands of people were without power on Saturday, according to reports compiled by PowerOutage.us. Most were from people in states where the tornadoes hit, but close to half a million people in nearby states, including Ohio and Michigan, suffered power outages due to the storms.
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