Kentucky tornadoes: Governor warns death toll likely to rise
December 14, 2021
Kentucky's Governor Andy Beshear said on Monday that the death toll in his state now stands at 74 after the weekend's tornadoes, but that he expects that figure to increase significantly.
"Our newest estimate on deaths [...] is that we are now up to 74 Kentuckians that we have lost," Beshear said in a Monday afternoon briefing. "We expect that this death toll will continue to grow."
Beshear said 109 people were still missing, "but as I look at this broken down by county ... it's way more people unaccounted for than this."
Beshear: Most devastating tornado in Kentucky ever
The governor called the event "the most devastating tornado event in our state's history."
"It may be weeks before we have counts on both deaths and levels of destruction," the governor told reporters as rescue workers continued to sift through the rubble. Eighty fatalities would make it the deadliest tornado in the state's history.
He added that eight people had been confirmed dead at a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, while 94 workers were believed to have made it out alive.
"We feared much, much worse," he said. "I pray that it is accurate."
A path of destruction across several states
At least 14 more people were killed in other states, as dozens of wind storms tore through parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee on Friday and Saturday, flattening homes and businesses and tearing apart infrastructure and vegetation.
Thousands of people, particularly in hardest-hit Kentucky, have been without heat and water and will be "for a long time," the mayor of the devastated town of Mayfield said on Monday.
Scientists have said that the unusually warm weather played a role in the devastation, and that such events would become ever more common due to climate change.
President Joe Biden has declared the affected areas in Kentucky a federal disaster area, paving the way for more federal relief funds. The president said Monday he plans to visit the affected areas in Kentucky on Wednesday.
es/jsi, wmr (AFP, Reuters)