Devastation in December
A violent storm unleashed a tornado swarm across six states on Friday, leaving many dead, injured, missing, and homeless.
“The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life and I have trouble putting it into words,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told reporters at a press conference, one day after a series of deadly tornados scoured entire towns from the Kentucky countryside.
At least 50 tornadoes were reported across six states late Friday night, with Kentucky by far being the hardest hit.
In Illinois, six people were killed when a tornado collapsed the walls and roof of an Amazon factory. Tennessee is reporting four people killed by the storms; Missouri and Arkansas have also reported casualties.
In Kentucky, thousands of families have been displaced from their homes which, in many cases, have been completely destroyed. They are in need of help, of places to go; and they are receiving it.
Everyone from President Joe Biden, to emergency agencies, to local first responders has risen to the challenge of this terrible tragedy, providing immediate aid and pledging support and assistance in the days, weeks and months to come.
Teams of rescuers have worked tirelessly against the clock since the disaster struck. Calls from victims trapped in collapsed and collapsing buildings spurred on a relentless search and rescue mission still underway.
The extent of the devastation is difficult to believe, even if readily-available drone footage has made it all too real.
Tornadoes aren’t unknown in the region, though they aren’t typical of December. The local historians of Mayfield, Kentucky- one of the towns hit hardest by Friday’s storms- remember the twister that “flattened Bardwell, the Carlisle County seat, in…