WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Kentucky on Sunday night after the country was hit by a swarm of vicious tornadoes that killed dozens of people and leveled towns in the Midwest.
At the request of state governors, Biden upgrade earlier emergency declaration to “major disaster,” which enables additional federal aid to be channeled into recovery efforts.
He previously called the rare late season burst of twisters that struck the heart of the US on the weekend “one of the biggest” storm outbreak in American history.
While emergency workers had to look for survivors continues, federal and local officials have warned that the death toll, for now at 94, may yet increase.
Andy Kentucky Governor Beshear said cadaver dogs are still finding bodies.
“The first thing we must do is grieve together and we will do it before we build it back together,” Beshear said at a news conference in the afternoon.
More than 80 people were killed in Kentucky, many of them workers at a factory in the city ravaged candle Mayfield, Beshear said Sunday.
“That number will exceed more than 100,” he told CNN.
Later in the day, the governor said the owner of the factory workers have been believed to be over, and it would be “quite lovely” if the toll were to be revised down, but he stressed he was not able to verify that information.
“Remember, we still find the body.
We had a dog bodies in the cities that they do not have to be in,” said Beshear.
At least six people were killed in an Amazon warehouse in the southern Illinois city of Edwardsville, where they were on the night shift process orders before Christmas.
Emergency crews worked through the night until Sunday at both locations, and agents from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Red Cross volunteers were on the scene in Kentucky.
But James Whiteford Edwardsville fire chief told reporters the operation has changed from a rescue to focus “solely on the recovery,” triggering fears the toll will rise.
Four were killed in Tennessee and two died in Arkansas, while Missouri recorded two fatalities.
Tornadoes also landed in Mississippi.
emergency crews who helped stunned residents around the area clearing debris.
David Norseworthy, builder of 69 years in Cleveland, said the storm blew off the roof and front porch while the family was hiding in shelters.
“We’ve never had anything like that here,” he told AFP.
A non-denominational church in Mayfield distributing food and clothing for hurricane victims while also providing space for the coroner to do his job, Stephen Boyken pastor of His House Ministries, told AFP.
People “come with pictures, birthmarks – they talk now about the use of DNA samples to identify those that have been lost,” he said.
storm strength system placed in historic company.
hurricane trackers say has lofted debris 30,000 feet (9,100 meters) into the air, and deadly twisters Mayfield seems to have broken the record for almost a century-old, on the ground tracking well over 200 miles (320 kilometers).
“The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life,” said Beshear.
As Americans grapple with the magnitude of the disaster, condolences poured in, with Pope Francis said he was praying “for the victims of the tornado that hit Kentucky.” Biden Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, in a break from the tense bilateral relations, saying his country “shares the sadness” of those who lost loved ones.
Mayfield, a city of about 10,000 near the western tip of Kentucky, reduced to a “match,” said Mayor Kathy O’Nan.
However, he told NBC on Sunday, “there is always hope” of finding survivors.
“We hope for a miracle.” Troy propes, CEO of the company that owned the candle factory, defended his decision to not shut down as the storm approached.
“We’re doing everything that should happen,” he told CNN on Sunday.
“My heart really bloody for everybody.” Mayfield described as “ground zero” by officials, and emerging post-apocalyptic: a flattened city blocks, historic homes and buildings beaten down to their sheets, tree trunks had been stripped of branches and car lying upside down in the field.
Reports put the number of tornadoes in all regions around 30.
“This will be our new normal.
And we see the effects of climate change is the crisis of our generation,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN on Sunday.
Biden said he planned to travel immediately to the areas, so their presence will not violate the relief effort.