Early Sunday, rescuers were anxiously looking for survivors after dozens of catastrophic tornadoes ripped through six US states, killing at least 83 people, leaving dozens missing, and destroying towns.
The tornado outbreak, which included one that traveled more than 200 miles, was dubbed “one of the largest” in American history by President Joe Biden.
In televised remarks, a distressed Biden said, “It’s a tragedy.” He vowed support for the affected states. “And we still don’t know how many people died or how much damage was done.”
Hundreds of search and rescue personnel worked overnight to assist bewildered individuals across the United States’ heartland in sifting through the ruins of their homes and businesses.
More than 70 individuals are thought to have been killed in Kentucky alone, many of them candle factory workers, while at least six people are reported to have perished in an Amazon warehouse in Illinois while working the night shift processing orders ahead of Christmas.
“This is the biggest, most catastrophic, and most fatal tornado in Kentucky’s history,” state governor Andy Beshear said, adding that he fears “we will have lost more than 100 people.”
He told reporters, “The devastation is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’m having difficulties putting it into words.”
State of emergency has been declared by Beshear. According to Beshear, the tornado that ripped through Kentucky rumbled along the earth for more than 200 miles (320 kilometers), making it one of the longest tornadoes on record.
A 219-mile tornado in Missouri in 1925 was the longest tornado ever recorded in the United States. It took the lives of 695 people.
