At least 50 people were likely to have been killed in a devastating outbreak of tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky and several other states in US late Friday and early Saturday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said.
Multiple tornadoes touched down overnight across the state causing damage in more than a dozen counties. The primary tornado travelled more than 200 miles (320 km) across Kentucky, Beshear told an early morning news conference.
The death toll could exceed 50 people and could reach up to 100 people, he said.
"The reports are really heartbreaking," he said.
"This has been one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history and some areas have been hit in ways that is hard to put into words."
Some of the worst destruction was in Mayfield, in western Kentucky. About 110 people were inside a candle factory in the area when the tornado ripped through, taking down the roof, Beshear said.
"We believe we’ll lose at least dozens of those individuals," the governor said.
Some 56,000 Kentuckians were without power, he said. He declared a state emergency and was deploying dozens of national guardsman to communities.
Pointing at a Kentucky map, Beshear said,"We believe that there were likely four likely tornadoes. Not just one. They hit in mutiple places across Kentucky. This is why so many counties have had significant damage."
DAMAGE IN TENNESSEE, ARKANSAS, MISSOURI
In Tennessee, the severe weather killed at least three people, Dean Flener, spokesman for the state's Emergency Management Agency, said in comments reported by the Washington Post.
At least one person was killed and five were injured when a tornado shredded the roof of a nursing home in Monette in northern Arkansas, the Post quoted local officials as saying.
In Illinois, authorities said many people were trapped after a roof partially collapsed at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse in the town of Edwardsville late on Friday.
The storms caused a CSX company freight train to derail in western Kentucky, although it said no injuries were reported, the New York Times said.
Bill Bunting, operations chief at the Storm Prediction Centre, part of the National Weather Service, said at least five states were hit by the tornadoes, naming them as Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas, the Times reported.
