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MAYFIELD, Ky. , Dec 12 (AP) \u2014 Rescuers combed through fields of wreckage after a tornado outbreak roared across the middle of the U.S., leaving dozens dead and communities in despair.<\/p>\n
A twister carved a track that could rival the longest on record as the stormfront smashed apart a candle factory, crushed a nursing home and flattened an Amazon distribution center.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pray that there will be another rescue. I pray that there will be another one or two,\u201d Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said, as crews sifted through the wreckage of the candle factory in Mayfield, where 110 people were working overnight Friday when the storm hit. Forty of them were rescued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to, at times, crawl over casualties to get to live victims,\u201d said Jeremy Creason, the city\u2019s fire chief and EMS director.<\/p>\n
In Kentucky alone, 22 were confirmed dead by late Saturday, including 11 in and around Bowling Green. But Beshear said upwards of 70 may have been killed when a twister touched down for more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) in his state and that the number of deaths could eventually exceed 100 across 10 or more counties.<\/p>\n
The death toll of 36 across five states includes six people in Illinois, where an Amazon facility was hit; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed; and two in Missouri.<\/p>\n
If early reports are confirmed, the twister \u201cwill likely go down perhaps as one of the longest track violent tornadoes in United States history,\u201d said Victor Gensini, a researcher on extreme weather at Northern Illinois University.<\/p>\n
The longest tornado on record, in March 1925, tracked for about 220 miles (355 kilometers) through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. But Gensini said this twister may have touched down for nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers). The storm was all the more remarkable because it came in December, when normally colder weather limits tornadoes, he said.<\/p>\n
Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees covered the ground in Mayfield, a city of about 10,000 in western Kentucky. Twisted metal sheeting, downed power lines and wrecked vehicles lined the streets. Windows and roofs were blown off the buildings that were still standing.<\/p>\n
The missing at the candle factory included Janine Denise Johnson Williams, a 50-year-old mother of four whose family members kept vigil at the site Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Christmastime and she works at a place that\u2019s making candles for gifts,\u201d her brother, Darryl Williams, said. \u201cTo give up the gift of life to make a gift. We haven\u2019t heard anything, and I\u2019m not presuming anything. But I\u2019m expecting for the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Johnson Williams called her husband overnight to report the weather was getting bad, the last time anyone heard from her.<\/p>\n
Kyanna Parsons-Perez, an employee at the factory, was trapped under 5 feet (about 1.5 meters) of debris for at least two hours until rescuers managed to free her.<\/p>\n
In an interview with NBC\u2019s \u201cToday,\u201d she said it was \u201cabsolutely the most terrifying\u201d event she had ever experienced. \u201cI did not think I was going to make it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just before the tornado struck, the building\u2019s lights flickered. She felt a gust of wind, her ears started popping and then, \u201cBoom. Everything came down on us.\u201d People started screaming, and she heard other workers praying.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t know how many.<\/p>\n
Rescue efforts were complicated because Mayfield\u2019s main fire station and emergency services hub were also hit by the tornado, Creason said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I could do is sit there and hold their head up,\u201d he said. \u201cI never experienced nothing like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden approved an emergency disaster declaration for Kentucky on Saturday and pledged to support the affected states.<\/p>\n
\u201cI promise you, whatever is needed \u2014 whatever is needed \u2014 the federal government is going to find a way to provide it,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n
Six people were killed in the collapse of the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, with another injured worker airlifted to a hospital, fire Chief James Whiteford said.<\/p>\n
Investigators searched the rubble throughout the day for additional victims and 45 people survived, Whiteford said. Authorities were uncertain Saturday evening whether anyone was still unaccounted because workers were in the midst of a shift change when it was struck by the tornado about 8:30 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MAYFIELD, Ky. , Dec 12 (AP) \u2014 Rescuers combed through fields of wreckage after a tornado outbreak roared across the middle of the U.S., leaving dozens dead and communities in despair. A twister carved a track that could rival the longest on record as the stormfront smashed apart a candle factory, crushed a nursing home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-179138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}