Biden Approves Help for Kentucky After Tornadoes Kill Dozens

(Bloomberg) -- Tornadoes ripped across several U.S. states late Friday, killing more than 70 people in Kentucky, at least two at a nursing home in Arkansas and an undetermined number at an Amazon.com warehouse that was partially flattened in Illinois.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard in the aftermath of storms that killed people in at least five states. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Kentucky, mobilizing federal assistance efforts for 15 counties.

Biden said he’s monitoring the situation “very closely†and also spoke with the governors of Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. He said if states beyond Kentucky seek federal disaster declarations, he stands ready to approve them.

“The federal government will do everything -- everything -- it can possibly do to help,†Biden said at a news conference Saturday in Delaware. “We’re going to provide everything that’s needed.â€

Beshear said deaths will amount to at least 70 and possibly exceed 100. He said 110 people had been in a candle factory in Graves County when a tornado hit, and only 40 had been rescued. CNN reported that no one had been found since 3 a.m. Saturday.

“It would be a miracle if anyone else is found alive,†Beshear said in an afternoon briefing, before darkness fell on the first day of rescue efforts. 

Biden’s declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts in the stricken parts of Kentucky.

Hard to Predict

The National Weather Service warned that nighttime tornadoes “are particularly dangerous†since people may not be listening for severe weather warnings. Unlike hurricanes, the path of a tornado can’t be easily tracked in advance so giving timely evacuation orders is often unfeasible given their swift and often erratic path.

Biden said questions will likely be raised about the advance warning of the storms.

“One of the questions that’s going to be raised, I’m confident, is: What warning was there? And was it strong enough? And was it heeded?†Biden said.

Damage will easily be in the hundreds of millions, if not $1 billion, said Chuck Watson, a catastrophe modeler with Enki Research. 

Multiple additional incidents have been reported from four tornadoes that touched down in Kentucky and ripped across an area more than 200 miles long. Thousands of homes in the state were left without power.

In Illinois, part of the roof and wall collapsed at a large Amazon fulfillment site near Edwardsville, northeast of St. Louis, causing “confirmed fatalities,†according to the local police department.

Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy tweeted the company is working with local officials and has been “closely monitoring the terrible situation.â€Â 

Graves County, in the state’s far southwest, bordering Tennessee, was the hardest hit among about 19 countries to experience storm damage.

 

Three storm-related deaths were confirmed in Tennessee, according to the state’s emergency management authorities. 

At least two people were reported dead in Arkansas, where Governor Asa Hutchinson said a tornado touched down in Mississippi County, north of Memphis, Tennessee. 

In St. Charles County in Missouri, an 84-year-old woman was killed after a tornado ripped the family house off its foundation, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

A flash flood warning is in place across southern Kentucky, where tornadoes also stuck earlier this week, the National Weather Service said. The south fork of the Little River in Hopkinsville, Kentucky rose more than 10 feet from just after midnight to 6:30 a.m. local time.  

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell released a statement that said he is, “praying for the lives lost and communities†impacted by the tornadoes and that he “will work with the entire Kentucky federal delegation to support†Beshear’s request for federal assistance. 

 

(Adds quote from Biden and new information from Beshear starting in the third paragraph)

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