Rescue and recovery efforts ongoing as Biden visits storm zone
Kentucky’s governor said the death toll hadn’t increased since Monday as rescue and recovery efforts continued into Wednesday. Meanwhile, heartbreaking new details of the twisters’ wrath emerged.
By
Allison Finch, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Dec 14, 2021 12:41 PM EST
|
Updated Dec 15, 2021 2:27 PM EST
The long cleanup process is just beginning for many people across the Midwest and Southeast, as AccuWeather's Kim Leoffler showed in a live report on Dec. 13.
President Joe Biden landed in tornado-ravaged Kentucky just before 11 am and met with officials in Mayfield, one of the hardest-hit locations, before viewing the damage.
“Don’t hesitate to ask for anything,” Biden said in a briefing. “If we can’t do it, we’ll tell you we can’t, and we’ll tell you from experience how you can maybe get it done…if you can’t get it done through the federal government.”
In a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear shared that the death toll in Kentucky remained at 74, while there were more than 100 still unaccounted for. Beshear said the age range of those lost in Kentucky has “gotten harder”, noting the youngest fatality was 2 months and the oldest was 98 years.
Beshear added that there were no further deaths at Mayfield Consumer Products, the candle factory leveled by a tornado, which he described as a “miracle” given that more than 100 people were inside when the storm hit.
In response to a reporter's question about the candle factory Beshear responded, "The owners have stated that they have found everybody alive and accounted for with the exception of eight that we have confirmed to have passed away." Beshear added that officials are still working to verify that information.
"If you saw it in person," Beshear said of the destroyed factory, "you'd believe that was a miracle."
The fatalities in Kentucky combined with 14 deaths in Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, according to The Associated Press, made the death toll from the tornado outbreak at least 88 across five states.
The outbreak is already considered the costliest tornado event in U.S. history. AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers estimated that the tornadoes are expected to cost about $18 billion in total damage and economic losses. Until this outbreak, the one from 2011 had been the costliest tornado outbreak on record, causing $10.2 billion, or about $12.6 billion today when adjusted for inflation, in total damage and economic losses.
Heartbreaking accounts of human suffering and loss continued to emerge on Tuesday from around the tornado-ravaged region.
According to The Associated Press, Trey and Meghan Rackley and their three daughters sought shelter in a windowless bathroom inside their southeast Missouri home as the storms moved across the middle of the country Friday night. As the severe weather escalated, Meghan Rackley shared a photo with a relative showing the three girls in what the family had designated as a "safe space." The children, smiling in the photo, were seen in and around the bathtub.
A short time later, a tornado splintered the home, carrying family members dozens of yards through the air into a field where first responders later found them. Anniston, a third-grader, was one of the dozens who died.
According to Sandra Hooker, Avalinn, a 7-year-old who was injured but survived, told doctors that she flew around "in the tornado," the AP reported.
Glynda Glover, 82, said she had no idea how long she would stay at the Wingo shelter. The wind from the tornadoes blew out the windows and covered her bed in glass and asphalt.
"I'll stay here until we get back to whatever normal is," she said, "and I don't know what normal is anymore."
Across the eight states affected by the twisters, there are close to 24,000 customers without power on midday Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.US. Kentucky accounted for the most outages, with just over 12,000 customers lacking electricity. In addition to the outages, more than 10,000 homes and businesses have no water, and another 17,000 are under boil-water advisories, Michael Dossett, director of Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, told reporters.
Beshear said Monday evening, an incident support base was established at Fort Campbell to deploy personnel and supplies, including generators, meals, water, cots, blankets, childcare kits, and pandemic shelter kits.
Mayfield’s entire electric system “will take weeks and months to rebuild,” Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett said in a briefing Tuesday afternoon.
He added that officials were in the process of drafting a plan to move forward and reconstruct the damaged areas, but he warned, "this doesn't happen overnight."
There were a total of 34 confirmed tornados across eight states in the weekend outbreak, seven of which were rated EF3 strength by the National Weather Service. One of the 34 confirmed tornadoes had an approximate 227-mile-long-path of destruction spanning four states, with 200 miles of destruction in Kentucky alone. Surveys were still ongoing Tuesday and will continue throughout the week in what is expected to go down as one of the largest and deadliest tornado events in United States history.
Dry weather looks to continue in Mayfield until Thursday, but after that, AccuWeather forecasters warn, stormy weather could return to the region as rescue and recovery efforts continue.
More on the historic tornado outbreak:
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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News / Severe Weather
Rescue and recovery efforts ongoing as Biden visits storm zone
Kentucky’s governor said the death toll hadn’t increased since Monday as rescue and recovery efforts continued into Wednesday. Meanwhile, heartbreaking new details of the twisters’ wrath emerged.
By Allison Finch, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Dec 14, 2021 12:41 PM EST | Updated Dec 15, 2021 2:27 PM EST
The long cleanup process is just beginning for many people across the Midwest and Southeast, as AccuWeather's Kim Leoffler showed in a live report on Dec. 13.
President Joe Biden landed in tornado-ravaged Kentucky just before 11 am and met with officials in Mayfield, one of the hardest-hit locations, before viewing the damage.
“Don’t hesitate to ask for anything,” Biden said in a briefing. “If we can’t do it, we’ll tell you we can’t, and we’ll tell you from experience how you can maybe get it done…if you can’t get it done through the federal government.”
In a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear shared that the death toll in Kentucky remained at 74, while there were more than 100 still unaccounted for. Beshear said the age range of those lost in Kentucky has “gotten harder”, noting the youngest fatality was 2 months and the oldest was 98 years.
Beshear added that there were no further deaths at Mayfield Consumer Products, the candle factory leveled by a tornado, which he described as a “miracle” given that more than 100 people were inside when the storm hit.
In response to a reporter's question about the candle factory Beshear responded, "The owners have stated that they have found everybody alive and accounted for with the exception of eight that we have confirmed to have passed away." Beshear added that officials are still working to verify that information.
"If you saw it in person," Beshear said of the destroyed factory, "you'd believe that was a miracle."
The fatalities in Kentucky combined with 14 deaths in Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, according to The Associated Press, made the death toll from the tornado outbreak at least 88 across five states.
The outbreak is already considered the costliest tornado event in U.S. history. AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers estimated that the tornadoes are expected to cost about $18 billion in total damage and economic losses. Until this outbreak, the one from 2011 had been the costliest tornado outbreak on record, causing $10.2 billion, or about $12.6 billion today when adjusted for inflation, in total damage and economic losses.
Heartbreaking accounts of human suffering and loss continued to emerge on Tuesday from around the tornado-ravaged region.
According to The Associated Press, Trey and Meghan Rackley and their three daughters sought shelter in a windowless bathroom inside their southeast Missouri home as the storms moved across the middle of the country Friday night. As the severe weather escalated, Meghan Rackley shared a photo with a relative showing the three girls in what the family had designated as a "safe space." The children, smiling in the photo, were seen in and around the bathtub.
A short time later, a tornado splintered the home, carrying family members dozens of yards through the air into a field where first responders later found them. Anniston, a third-grader, was one of the dozens who died.
According to Sandra Hooker, Avalinn, a 7-year-old who was injured but survived, told doctors that she flew around "in the tornado," the AP reported.
Glynda Glover, 82, said she had no idea how long she would stay at the Wingo shelter. The wind from the tornadoes blew out the windows and covered her bed in glass and asphalt.
"I'll stay here until we get back to whatever normal is," she said, "and I don't know what normal is anymore."
Across the eight states affected by the twisters, there are close to 24,000 customers without power on midday Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.US. Kentucky accounted for the most outages, with just over 12,000 customers lacking electricity. In addition to the outages, more than 10,000 homes and businesses have no water, and another 17,000 are under boil-water advisories, Michael Dossett, director of Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, told reporters.
Beshear said Monday evening, an incident support base was established at Fort Campbell to deploy personnel and supplies, including generators, meals, water, cots, blankets, childcare kits, and pandemic shelter kits.
Mayfield’s entire electric system “will take weeks and months to rebuild,” Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett said in a briefing Tuesday afternoon.
He added that officials were in the process of drafting a plan to move forward and reconstruct the damaged areas, but he warned, "this doesn't happen overnight."
There were a total of 34 confirmed tornados across eight states in the weekend outbreak, seven of which were rated EF3 strength by the National Weather Service. One of the 34 confirmed tornadoes had an approximate 227-mile-long-path of destruction spanning four states, with 200 miles of destruction in Kentucky alone. Surveys were still ongoing Tuesday and will continue throughout the week in what is expected to go down as one of the largest and deadliest tornado events in United States history.
Dry weather looks to continue in Mayfield until Thursday, but after that, AccuWeather forecasters warn, stormy weather could return to the region as rescue and recovery efforts continue.
More on the historic tornado outbreak:
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
Report a Typo