Like a ‘bomb has exploded’: This was the reaction of the residents after the tornado.
As many as six people lost their lives in a warehouse of Amazon in Illinois due to the tornado. They were working on their night duty carrying out orders before Christmas.
A deadly tornado hit six US states during the night, which claimed the lives of more than 80 people and several others lost.
As far as the regional media reports are concerned, more than 70 people have lost their lives only in the state of Kentucky itself because of the disaster. The superstorm struck a candle factory where quite a number of people were working in the night causing devastating effects.
Pictures published by different news media have portrayed catastrophic scenes with ancient houses and buildings destroyed; tree trunks with damaged branches; trains diverted from their tracks; cars toppled in fields.
Remarks of the government authorities
US President Joe Biden gave his remark on television,”It’s a tragedy. We still don’t know how many lives are lost and the full extent of the damage.”
Biden added that the tornado is very likely to be remembered as one of the largest storms in American history.
The Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear commented,” it was the worst, most devastating, most deadly tornado event in the state’s history. The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life.”
Key points
- The personnel who are in charge of the rescue and relief operations in tornado-struck states think that the number of deaths might increase further as the routes and snow are cleared.
- Edwardsville fire head James Whiteford explained to the reporters that the operation changed from rescue to focus “only on recovery”, spurring the fears of further rise in the death toll.
- AFP reports that at least one was killed when a tornado struck a nursing home in Monette, Arkansas.
- 4 were killed in Tennessee and one in Missouri. It was further reported that the tornadoes also hit Mississippi.
- A 31-year-old resident of Mayfield named Alex Goodman has given a version of the events saying, “It looks like a bomb has exploded”, according to the reports of AFP.
- As per PowerOutage.com more than half a million houses in different states lost power supply due to the storm.
- The longest US tornado moving along the land was a storm of 219 miles in Missouri in 1925 which killed 695 people.
There were at least 30 tornadoes that left a trail of death and destruction to the states of Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
Russian condolences
The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin offered his “sincere condolences”. According to the Kremlin, Putin told Biden, “Russia shares in the grief of those who lost loved ones as a result of this disaster. We hope the victims will recover and that the consequences of this disaster will be overcome quickly.”
