President Biden has declared a major federal disaster in Kentucky as communities across eight states reel from deadly tornadoes that ripped across a swath of the southern and midwestern U.S. Friday and Saturday. Over 100 people are feared dead, with the highest death toll in Kentucky, where at least 80 people were killed. This is Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
Gov. Andy Beshear: “It’s like nothing any of us have ever seen before, even in a movie or on TV. It is that devastating. I mean homes totally, totally gone, and the people inside them totally gone, too. This is — this is something so devastating. The warnings were there. I don’t fault anybody for that. … One of our challenges is we’re losing so many people in this, most of our morgues aren’t big enough. So, our coroners from all over the state are coming in to help.”
Deaths were also confirmed in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. In Edwardsville, Illinois, an Amazon warehouse partially collapsed Friday night, killing at least six people. Labor and rights advocates blasted Amazon following the news. Union leader Stuart Appelbaum said, “Requiring workers to work through such a major tornado warning event as this was inexcusable.”