Article: At least 50 Feared Dead In Kentucky As Tornadoes Strike Swaths Of U.S

Pure devastation. Many prayers for the families. They need it!

Dennis Romero and Juliette Arcodia and Cyrus Farivar and Phil Helsel
Sat, December 11, 2021, 6:00 AM


There are likely to be at least 50 deaths after a devastating outbreak of tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky and other U.S. states late Friday and early Saturday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said.

"It's devastating," Beshear told a news conference early Saturday, adding that he had declared a state of emergency and activated 181 guardsmen from the National Guard. "We believe our death toll from this event will exceed 50 Kentuckians and probably end up closer to 70 or 100 lost lives," he said. "We will make it through this," he added. "We will rebuild, we are strong, resilient people."

Beshear said four tornadoes, one of which stayed on the ground for more than 200 miles after touching down, had swept through the state. Almost 60,000 Kentuckians had been left without power, he said. The city of Mayfield had been "devastated," he said, adding that a roof collapse and a candle factory had "resulted in mass casualties."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/2-dead-arkansas-possible-tornadoes-034657843.html

 

That photo is of the Edwardsville Amazon warehouse in Illinois and is about 20 minutes away from where I live (Belleville).

I was up at 0430 this morning, getting ready for work and our home felt like it was shifting from the severe winds. My co-worker, who lives out past Edwardsville, saw the damage first hand this morning. He said you could see right through the warehouse to the other side. There were about 30 emergency vehicles retrieving people. Not unusual for high winds and tornadoes in Southern Illinois, but Kentucky? That's strange.

 

TY for sharing. Stay safe!

 

Prayers up for all. That seems to be a scary situation.

 

I have a buddy in Tennessee who was saying they had some serious storms moving in on the west side of the state. Thankfully he's on the east side. Went to weather.com and it looked like a relatively thin system that spanned from nearly Austin to Milwaukee. In terms of area covered, I'm sure there have been bigger, but in terms of straight-line distance that was a monster. A relatively thing strip of high-intensity storm cells that was undoubtedly over 1,100 miles long. Glad I moved out of the midwest.

 

Sad deal. Hug your loved ones regularly and be kind to your neighbors. You never know what tomorrow brings.

 

Our emergency radio went off at 4:00 AM and we hunkered down in the basement for about four hours with about four different Tornado warnings during that interval. So grateful it missed us.

 

They just interviewed a young couple that worked at the candle factory. It was horrific hearing how they were buried alive.

Another lady showed video from her cell how she & many others were screaming for help. My dear God, please let them find more survivors.

TY for sharing. It's times as these where good news is much needed.

 

I’m glad you’re ok bro. I have a friend in the area and contacted him the day after the storm. After everything calmed down, he went outside and found the top half of a woman laying dead in the street. Bottom half nowhere near.

We’re lucky every day to be alive.

 

small world....i grew up in Highland (army took me to NC) and my HS best friend lives in Belleville. you are correct about tornadoes in southern IL. my cousins daughter goes to school at SIU-E, luckily she was out on winter break.

 

I lived in Texas (Arlington) for about five years. Never experienced a tornado but I do remember some pretty hellacious storms.

 

I know where Highland is but haven’t driven by there yet. I got stationed here at Scott AFB in 2014 and just retired here this summer. Southern Illinois is great for raising a family. The schools are really good, especially for parents with special needs kids.

The tornados are definitely more prevalent than what I remember in Texas. It seems like we get a close call every 3 years. In 2018, we had one pass over our neighborhood and damage 60-70% of the roofs, including ours. Dang 3-tab shingles! Everyone upgraded to architectural shingles after that!

 

It was a very thin system. It eventually hit here in southeastern PA near Philly on Saturday night. It was so thin the severe storms only lasted less than an hour. But it was enough to knock power out the wind was so bad.

I can’t imagine the more
Severe stuff that hit them further west.

awful storms.

 

I haven't read the article yet, but how does this Kentucky twister fatality and destruction rate compare to the historic Tri-State tragic with multiple destructive F-3 to F-5 tornadoes
over three states range. ?

 

i saw a new reporting that weather broadcasting system is expecting a new and second wave of similar very severe storms on it's way again.
i would've never thought such storm destruction in the month of December.

 

This hits home. Babies losing their lives.