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At least 50 people have died after the passage of several tornadoes between Friday night and the early hours of this Saturday, December 11, in Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee and other states of the Midwest and South of the United States, they confirm The authorities. At an Amazon warehouse, several employees were trapped for hours after the roof collapsed from storms.
Dozens of deaths, hundreds of destroyed homes and thousands of people without power is part of the picture left by a series of tornadoes through the Midwest and South of the United States.
Some of the worst destruction occurred in Mayfield, western Kentucky. About 110 people were inside a candle factory when the tornado ripped through the site and knocked down the roof. As a result, 50 people are confirmed dead, but the number could reach 100, according to state governor Andy Beshear.
“This has been one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history and some areas have been affected in ways that are difficult to put into words … There were about 110 people at the time the tornado struck. We believe we will lose the less than dozens of those people, “Beshear said during a press conference on December 11.
Faced with the situation, which also left some 56,000 people without electricity, the governor declared a state of emergency and ordered the deployment of dozens of national guards to the most affected communities.
“We think there were probably four tornadoes. Not just one. They struck in various places in Kentucky. This is why so many counties have suffered significant damage,” the official explained.
Damage extends to Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri
In Illinois, authorities said many people were trapped after part of the roof of an Amazon warehouse collapsed in the city of Edwardsville.
The Emergency Management Agency in Colinsville, a nearby city, said it was an “incident with massive victims”, although it did not specify the number of victims.
“The safety and well-being of our employees and partners is our top priority at this time,” said company spokesman Richard Rocha.
This is all that’s left of an Amazon warehouse in Illinois after a tornado struck the building, in what’s being described as a ‘mass casualty event’ by officials.
Several tornadoes struck a number of US states overnight, with reports of more than 50 people killed. pic.twitter.com/AG2RDadwb3
– Channel 4 News (@ Channel4News) December 11, 2021
In Arkansas, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day said a tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home. One person died and 20 others were trapped when the building collapsed.
In Tennessee, the severe weather phenomenon left at least three people dead, Dean Flener, a spokesman for the state’s Emergency Management Agency, told the Washington Post.
At least five states have been impacted by the passage of tornadoes, according to the director of operations of the Tornado Prediction Center, Bill Bunting.
Authorities are still assessing the damage, work that has been hampered by debris strewn across the roads.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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