UPDATE/VIDEOThe eastern United States has been hit by dozens of tornadoes. Nearly 100 people have been killed so far. That number is expected to increase. One whirlwind swept through four different states for three hours, covering nearly 400 kilometers.
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Foreign editors
Latest update:
16:26
According to meteorologists, some fragments were thrown up to 9,000 meters in the air. At least 80 people have been killed in Kentucky alone. Governor Andy Beshear fears that number will rise to more than 100.
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Biden pledges emergency aid
He has therefore declared a state of emergency in his state. “The reports are really heartbreaking.” With at least 13 deaths in other states, including six in Illinois, the total number is almost 100. President Joe Biden tweeted that the tornadoes had caused an “unimaginable tragedy” in the area. He promised to provide all necessary federal aid.
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The US Meteorological Service had issued a tornado warning in advance for central and eastern Arkansas, southeastern Missouri, northwestern Mississippi, west Tennessee, western Kentucky, southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. More than 150,000 people are without power, according to the authorities and many buildings are damaged.
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The state of Tennessee has been badly hit: hardly anything is left standing in the village of Mayfield. Police stations and fire stations have been destroyed by the storm. The death toll threatens to be high, especially in a collapsed candle factory. About 40 people have been rescued from the building, which contained 110 people when the tornado hit the factory.
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crawling over victims
Fire chief Jeremy Creason, whose fire station in Mayfield was destroyed by the storm, said the factory had been reduced to a “mountain of bent metal, steel and machinery,” and that rescuers sometimes had to “crawl over victims to get to survivors.”
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Kyanna Parsons-Perez, a worker at the factory, was trapped under 1.5 meters of rubble for at least two hours until rescuers were able to free her. In an interview with US news channel NBC, she said it was “absolutely the most terrifying” thing she had ever experienced. “I didn’t think I was going to survive.”
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I didn’t think I was going to survive.
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Just before the tornado hit the building, the lights flickered. Parsons-Perez felt a gust of wind, her ears popped, then “Boom. Everything came down to us.” Among those who helped free the employees trapped under the pumice had been captured from nearby Graves Prison, she said. “They could have used that moment to flee, but they didn’t. They were there, helping us.”
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Huge havoc
The fire department in Edwardsville, Illinois, where an Amazon department store was hit, has so far confirmed that at least six people have died in the warehouse.
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An unknown number of Amazon employees are still missing. Fire chief James Whiteford said 45 people were able to leave the building safely. He expects the rescue operation to last at least three days. But he thinks the chance that survivors will be found is nil. Part of the roof collapsed due to the storm and people were trapped.
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An Amazon spokesperson says the company is assessing the damage to the property. Drone footage shows rescuers making their way through the devastation in the semi-darkness. Emergency vehicles are standing around the affected building.
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A warehouse worker’s wife says she is very concerned about her husband. “I spoke to him about eight o’clock in the evening,” she says. “He sent me a message a little later that he was going to take his van back to storage.” The woman has not heard anything since.
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Martijn Peters
@MartijnP_DPG
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