Thousands still without shelter after US tornadoes
Devastating tornadoes in the United States have claimed the lives of at least 88 people in Kentucky and four other states. In the stricken areas, thousands remain without heat, electricity and running water.
Struggling to survive
A drone shot shows the extent of destruction: in Mayfield, Kentucky, the water tower collapsed like a house of cards. "Our infrastructure is so damaged. We have no running water. [...] Our wastewater management was lost, and there's no natural gas to the city. So we have nothing to rely on there,'' Mayor Kathy Stewart O'Nan told broadcaster CBS, adding that many people were struggling to survive.
Volunteers come to help
At South Warren High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky, volunteers have come to help sort donated canned food and drinking water. In the town of about 70,000, 11 people died on the same street, including two infants found among the bodies of five relatives near their home, coroner Kevin Kirby told The Associated Press news agency.
Coping with grief and loss
Justin and his girlfriend, Sunny, have taken shelter in a church turned emergency shelter in Wingo, Kentucky. Sunny's brother lost his best friend when a candle factory collapsed in Mayfield, killing at least eight workers.
Many homes uninhabitable
Shelter organizers in Wingo are hoping to find a mobile outdoor shower and laundry carts. They expect that many of the people now staying here will need a long-term place to live. "I'll stay here until we get back to whatever normal is," 82-year-old Glynda Glover told AP. "And I don't know what normal is anymore." The wind blew out the windows in her apartment, covering it in glass and asphalt.
Reconstruction will take years
At a mobile emergency center in Dawson Springs, Kentucky — another town devastated by the tornadoes — volunteers deliver drinking water. "It looks like a bomb went off. It's just completely destroyed in areas," said Jack Whitfield Jr., the Hopkins County judge-executive. He estimates that 60% of the town, including hundreds of homes, is "beyond repair."
'It won't ever be the same'
Anthony Vasquez, 42, has taken shelter with his 4-month-old son Michael at the emergency shelter in Wingo, along with around 100 others. "We're not going to let any of our families go homeless," said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. Cynthia Gargis, 51, who was taken in by her daughter and works at the shelter, doesn't see "how we'll ever get over this. It won't ever be the same."