The Washington Post quoted Beshear in an interview with a local TV station as saying that the number of deaths could be “significantly higher”. A tornado hit nursing homes in Arkansas, killing at least two people.
In Kentucky, the town of Mayfield was particularly affected. The roof of a factory there has collapsed and there could be many casualties, Governor Beshear said.
In the US state of Illinois, a tornado partially collapsed the roof of a distribution center operated by the online retailer Amazon. At the time of the accident on Friday evening (local time) in Edwardsville near the city of St. Louis, an unknown number of people were in the building, the local police chief Mike Fillback told journalists. Rescue workers could have got a number of those trapped in the building. However, it is unclear how many remained inside. Further details were initially not known.
According to CNN, at least 24 tornadoes raged in five US states. A map from the transmitter showed that the affected area stretched from north to south. In addition to Kentucky, Arkansas and Illinois, Tennessee and Missouri were also affected. An overview of the damage and possible victims in the affected US states was initially extremely difficult because the information changed quickly.
Source: Nachrichten
