US tornado death toll rises as rescuers search for survivors

Rescue team has commenced in a desperate search for survivors in parts of six US states devastated by powerful tornadoes that have left over 90 people dead.

BBC reports that dozens of people are missing and entire towns destroyed by about 30 tornadoes on Friday.

President Biden has declared a disaster in Kentucky, the worst-affected state.

At least 80 people have died in the state, including dozens in a candle factory, and the death toll is expected to rise above 100.

Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman told the BBC the death toll was continuing to rise “with every hour”.

“All of these numbers continue to unfold…,” she said. “Our emergency response teams are still surveying the damage and knocking on doors and reaching out to folks trying to make contact to see who’s alive.”

Local congressman James Comer, working with rescuers in the ruined town of Mayfield, said the tornado there was the widest ever seen.

“It’s the most devastating storm damage I’ve seen in my entire life. We’ve had tornadoes that have been the same length as this tornado but we’ve never had one with the width of this tornado,” he said.

Forty people have been rescued from the collapsed candle factory in Mayfield but 60 more remain missing and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who has visited the scene, said it was unlikely there were more survivors.

He said no-one had been found alive since Saturday.

“There’s at least 15ft of metal with cars on top of it, barrels of corrosive chemicals that are there. It’ll be a miracle if anybody else is found alive in it,” he said.

One candle factory employee made a desperate plea for help on Facebook from under the wreckage as co-workers could be heard moaning in the background.

“We are trapped, please, y’all, get us some help,” said Kyanna Parsons-Perez – who was later rescued – in the broadcast played on CNN.

Ivy Williams, whose wife was working a night shift at the factory, was speaking to her on the phone when the call cut out, he told the Washington Post. He said he had not heard from her since.

“I need people to help me find my wife, and be honest with me, and let me know as soon as possible,” he told the newspaper, in tears as he waited outside a counselling centre.

Mayfield resident Tony Meeker described the moment the tornado hit.

 

“Out of nowhere the sirens went off and then not long after that our ears popped. I mean it was like the pressure dropped. And then it felt like our house was about to just be gone, get carried off,” he said.

“It looks like a bomb went off. I don’t know how anybody could’ve lived. I feel bad for anybody that didn’t make it or people who got stuck. I’m sure it was terrifying.”