Storms unleashed devastating tornadoes late Friday and early Saturday across parts of the central and southern United States, including Kentucky, where the governor said the death toll may exceed 70 after "one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history." Tornadoes or strong winds collapsed an occupied candle factory in Kentucky, an Amazon warehouse in western Illinois, and a nursing home in Arkansas, killing people in each community and leaving responders scrambling to rescue others. More than 30 tornadoes have been reported in at least six states, including Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi. A stretch of more than 250 miles from Arkansas to Kentucky might have been hit by one violent, long-track twister, CNN meteorologists say. "I'm pretty sure that number (killed in Kentucky) is north of 70 ... it may, in fact exceed 100 before the day is done," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said late Saturday morning. "The level of devastation is unlike anything I have ever seen." One of the most devastated sites is the southwestern Kentucky city of Mayfield, where a tornado hit the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory Friday night while people were working. About 110 people were inside and dozens are feared dead there, Beshear said. Video from Mayfield showed what remained of the factory: a massive debris field, largely of twisted metal, several feet high, with rescuers using hands and machines to dig through. Among the survivors were Kyanna Parsons-Perez, who said workers had been hustled to a safety area before the storm hit. While attendance was being taken, she saw "a little dust of wind." "My ears start popping. And it was like the building, we all just rocked back and forth, and then boom — everything fell on us," Kyanna Parsons-Perez told CNN. Pinned by debris with others, she used her phone to broadcast on Facebook Live, and called 911, her mother and a coworker's relative. She knew rescuers were around only when she could feel pressure from above — people walking on the debris. An official Kentucky death toll hasn't been released; deaths have been reported in Arkansas (three), Tennessee (three), Illinois (two) and Missouri (one). The National Guard and other state personnel are deploying to hard-hit areas for "house-to-house" searches and debris removal, Beshear told CNN. In a message on Twitter, President Joe Biden called losing a loved one in storms like this an "unimaginable tragedy," and said the federal government is "working with governors to ensure they have what they need as the search for survivors and damage assessments continue." Biden has spoken with Beshear and "indicated that he has directed FEMA and other federal agencies to provide the speediest assistance possible to impacted communities," the White House said. First responders have pulled "many, many" people out of the rubble, some alive and some apparently dead, storm chaser Michael Gordon told CNN Saturday morning from the scene. "It's kind of hard to talk about. ... They're digging in that rubble by hand right now," Gordon said. People were working there, as the factory has been "going 24/7" in part to meet Christmastime candle demand, US Rep. James Comer, who represents the area, told CNN. Other buildings hit in Mayfield, a city of around 10,000 people, include the Graves County courthouse and adjoining jail. "It's changed the landscape ... here in Mayfield," Kentucky State Police Lt. Dean Patterson said. "We're seeing (destruction) that none of us have ever seen before." Severe thunderstorms still are possible Saturday from the northern Gulf states into the south-central Appalachians, the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said. Tornado watches throughout the region were expected Saturday morning. At the collapsed Amazon warehouse in the Illinois city of Edwardsville outside St. Louis, at least two people were killed, and rescue attempts were under way Saturday, Police Chief Mike Fillback said. In the northeastern Arkansas city of Monette, at least two deaths were reported, including one person killed at a nursing home damaged by a tornado, Mayor Bob Blankenship said. At the nursing home, many people were trapped before being rescued, officials said. At least 20 were injured at the facility, Blankenship told CNN. Another person was killed in nearby Leachville, when a woman was "in a Dollar General store when the storm hit and they could not get out," Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook told CNN. Also in Arkansas, Interstate 555 near the town of Trumann was closed because of overturned vehicles, Arkansas Emergency Management spokesperson LaTresha Woodruff said. State officials had been told the town's fire department, EMS facility and a nursing home were damaged, Woodruff said. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who toured the damage in Monette and Trumann, issued an emergency declaration for four counties in northeastern Arkansas on Saturday. "Come in here to Monette and you see the devastation of this tornado... the most remarkable thing is that there's not a greater loss of life," Hutchinson said. In northwestern Tennessee north of Memphis, one person was killed in Obion County and two died in Lake County during the storms, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said. In Obion County, multiple structures were damaged in the community of Samburg, according to officials. The town "is pretty well flattened," Obion County sheriff's dispatcher Judy Faulkner told CNN. More than 400,000 homes and businesses lost power across eight states in the South and Midwest by 10 a.m. ET Saturday, including more than 130,000 in Tennessee and more than 60,000 in Kentucky, according to poweroutage.us. The longest stretch of devastation ranged more than 250 miles from Arkansas to Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. That stretch might have been hit by one long-track tornado, CNN meteorologists said. If it was one tornado, its path may have exceeded the longest on record: a tornado that was on the ground for 219 miles in 1925 in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. More than 100 tornado warnings were issued in the US Friday before midnight, the most ever for a day in December. Along with multiple tornadoes, the storms produced dozens of wind and hail reports as of early Saturday. Much of the eastern US will be impacted by rain into Saturday evening. — CNN
