Tornadoes and severe weather caused catastrophic damage across multiple states late Friday, killing at least six people overnight as it tore through a candle factory in Kentucky, an Amazon facility in Illinois and a nursing home in Arkansas.
Kentucky’s governor fears that dozens more may have been killed.
“There were about 110 people in it at the time that the tornado hit it,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “We believe our death toll from this event will exceed 50 Kentuckians and probably end up 70 to 100.”
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“It’s very hard, really tough, and we’re praying for each and every one of those families,” Gov. Beshear said Saturday of what he called a “tragic” situation.
At least one person died after severe weather struck an an Amazon facility in Edwardsville, Illinois, police Chief Mike Fillback told reporters Saturday morning. The roof of the building was ripped off and a wall about the length of a football field collapsed.
Two people at the facility were taken by helicopter to hospitals in St. Louis for treatment, Fillback said. The chief did not know which hospitals the two had been taken to, or their conditions. Edwardsville is about 25 miles east of St. Louis.
Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told The Associated Press that a tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home in Arkansas at about 8:15 p.m., killing one person and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed. Officials had earlier reported at least two fatalities.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the damage was caused by straight-line storms or a tornado, but the National Weather Service office near St. Louis reported “radar-confirmed tornadoes” in the Edwardsville area at around the time of the collapse.
About 30 people who were in the building were taken by bus to the police station in nearby Pontoon Beach for evaluation.
Early Saturday, rescue crews were still sorting through the rubble. Fillback said the process could take several more hours. Cranes and backhoes were brought in to help move debris.
The Belleville News-Democrat reported that the Amazon fulfillment center in Edwardsville opened with two warehouses in 2016, with 1.5 million square feet of space. The warehouses are used to store items until they are shipped to mail-order customers.
“The safety and well-being of our employees and partners is our top priority right now,” Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha said in a written statement Friday night. “We’re assessing the situation and will share additional information when it’s available.”
Workers at a National Weather Service office had to take shelter as a tornado passed near their office in Weldon Spring, Missouri, about 30 miles west of St. Louis. One person died and two others were injured in building collapses near the towns of Defiance and New Melle, both just a few miles from the weather service office.
A tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home in Arkansas on Friday night, killing one person and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told The Associated Press.
Five people had serious injuries, and a few others had minor ones, he said. The nursing home has 86 beds.
Day said another nursing home about 20 miles away in Truman was badly damaged but no injuries were reported. The residents were being evacuated because the building is unsafe.
Three storm-related deaths were confirmed in Tennessee, said Dean Flener, spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Two of the deaths occurred in Lake County, and the third was in Obion County — both in the northwestern corner of the state.
In Kentucky, several buildings collapsed during the severe weather that struck Mayfield, said Sarah Burgess, a trooper with the Kentucky State Police.
She said several people were trapped inside a damaged candle factory and that a shift was ongoing when the storm hit.
“The entire building is essentially leveled,” she said.
Farther east in Bowling Green, Western Kentucky University said on Twitter that emergency crews were assessing significant storm damage and that no injuries were immediately reported. However, the school called off commencement ceremonies that were planned for Saturday because the campus was without power.
“It’s obvious we had major wind damage,” said Ronnie Ward, a Bowling Green police spokesman, in a telephone interview.
Rescue efforts in Bowling Green and elsewhere were hampered by debris strewn across roads. Ward said numerous apartment complexes in Bowling Green had major structural damage, and some factories had collapsed during the storms.
“Right now we’re focusing on the citizens, trying to get to everybody that needs us,” Ward said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said on Twitter that Illinois State Police and disaster officials were coordinating with local officials in Edwardsville, and he was monitoring the situation.
“My prayers are with the people of Edwardsville tonight, and I’ve reached out to the mayor to provide any needed state resources,” Pritzker said.
The storms in Illinois and Arkansas were among several places in the Midwest that reported tornadoes spotted or on the ground.
The storms caused additional damage as they tracked through Tennessee and into Kentucky. Several buildings collapsed in the southwestern Kentucky community of Mayfield, said Sarah Burgess, a trooper with the Kentucky State Police in Mayfield.
Burgess said authorities worked to clear trees and power lines from roads in order to begin assessing damage. She said several people were trapped inside a damaged candle factory in Mayfield.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear held a news conference in the predawn hours. He confirmed at least 50 deaths but said that figure would likely rise to somewhere between 70 and 100. He said, “It’s devastating.”
Graves County, where Mayfield is located, was the hardest hit area. But Beshear acknowledged severe destruction in Bowling Green as well. Beshear says the full extent of the destruction caused by the storms wouldn’t be known until the morning.
Beshear said they have determined four tornadoes caused damage in Kentucky. One stayed on the ground for 227 miles and will likely eclipse the record for longest tornado track which was set in 1925. Two other tornadoes were tracked south of Mayfield and there was one to the north.
Just after 5 a.m. Beshear said there were approximately 56,000 Kentuckians without power and he expected that number to climb.
Shortly after midnight, Beshear declared a state of emergency and called up 181 members of the National Guard. The National Guard are on scene and on route and will be assisting with search and extraction as well as debris clean up.
The storm originated in Arkansas, traveled through Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. Gov. Beshear called Friday’s storms the most severe tornadic event in Kentucky history.
