A devastating outbreak of tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky and other U.S. states late Friday and early Saturday is “likely” to have killed 50 people.
The Washington Post reported that the dead could be “significantly north of that,” citing Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s interview with local TV WLKY.
“The reports are really heartbreaking,” Beshear said.
Kentucky’s emergency management service said that rescue officials had not confirmed figures for deaths or injuries as of early Saturday.
In Tennessee, the severe weather killed at least three people, the Post quoted Dean Flener, spokesman for the state’s Emergency Management Agency, as saying.
At least one person was killed and five were injured when a tornado shredded the roof of a nursing home in Monette in northern Arkansas, the Post quoted local officials as saying.
In Illinois, authorities said many people were trapped after a roof partially collapsed at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse near St. Louis late on Friday, after tornadoes and strong storms blew through the area. read more
Beshear, who declared a state of emergency in his state, was quoted as saying the damage would be “some of the worst … we’ve seen in a long time”.