According to Xinhua News Agency, using US media reported on the 11th, 6 states in the central United States suffered at least 30 tornado attacks on the night of the 10th, which has caused more than 80 deaths so far.
The six states hit by the tornado were Arkansas, Mississippi, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, the report said.
Kentucky Governor Andy Behir said at a press conference on the 11th that a factory producing candles in the state was completely destroyed. There were about 110 workers in the plant at the time of the tornado, and the current death toll is 79, with the eventual death toll likely to exceed 100. Kentucky has entered a state of emergency and the state National Guard is participating in the rescue.
The tornado attack reportedly killed 1 person and seriously injured 5 people at a nursing home in Arkansas; the roof of an Amazon warehouse in Illinois was overturned, killing at least 2 people; and 3 and 1 death in Tennessee and Missouri, respectively.
According to the U.S. power tracking website, the tornado attack caused more than 330,000 users in four of these states to lose power. The National Weather Service said in a tornado warning issued on the 10th that at least 25 million people are expected to be affected by the tornado attack.
Previously reported:
【Text/Observer Network Liu Chenghui】
Late on the night of the 10th local time, a series of powerful storm groups suddenly swept through the central region of the United States, Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee and other five major states suffered at least 24 tornado attacks, causing more than 200,000 households to lose power, more than 55 million Americans facing serious threats. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear previously revealed that the "devastating damage" could kill at least 50 people in the state, with the death toll likely to rise to nearly 100.
According to US media reports such as CNN and The New York Times, the dynamic tornado storm affected more than half of the country. Before the tornado hit on the night of the 10th, tornado alerts were issued in central and eastern Arkansas, southeastern Missouri, northwestern Mississippi, western Tennessee, western Kentucky, southern Illinois, and southwestern Indiana.
A Kentucky man filmed a video of the tornado scene
A Kentucky man posted a video on social media recreating the scene when the tornado occurred. The video was shot around 11 p.m. that night, and the occasional lightning bolt faintly reflected a huge tornado on the distant horizon, and the sharp alarm sound of the tornado when it struck could be heard in the video.
Warehouses collapsed, trains derailed, factories destroyed...
In Edwardsville, Illinois, a tornado caused a warehouse by U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon to collapse due to severe damage, trapping about 100 employees and still in progress as of the morning of the 11th. Local officials said there had been "confirmed deaths" in the accident and "more than one person," but the exact number of casualties was unclear.
Herb Simmons, the director of the local Emergency Management Agency, recalled that they received a call for help in the accident at 8:59 p.m. on the 10th. Simmons said part of the collapse was in the Amazon building, but it is not known which building it is or how many people are trapped inside. Accident investigation will be a "lengthy process".
A 2017 st. Louis Post report said that in 2016, Amazon opened two logistics warehouses in Edwardsville, about 25 miles east of St. Louis, employing about 2,200 people.
Called a "devastating tragedy," Amazon spokesman Richard Rocha, the company "expresses its condolences, prayers and deepest sympathy to the victims, their loved ones and all those affected." ”
Severity of the scope of the tornado disaster (from CNN)
In addition, at least 3 people died in Tennessee, while at least 1 person died and 5 people were seriously injured at a nursing home in Arkansas.
Kentucky was particularly badly damaged compared to other states. Kentucky Gov. Bayhill said the tornado moved along a path of more than 200 kilometers and caused severe damage, and the state could have killed at least 50 people in the tornado attack. As search and rescue efforts progress, that number is likely to continue to rise, approaching 70 or even 100.
Because it was late at night, Kentucky County rescue workers searched for people trapped in the rubble of collapsed houses and buildings in the darkness, strong winds and torrential rain. In the hardest-damaged town of Mayfield, at least 110 people crowded inside a candle factory when the tornado hit the area, "causing a large number of casualties".
At the scene of the collapse of the candle factory in Kentucky, more than 100 people are expected to be trapped (picture from the US media, the same below)
One witness said that when the tornado left, the candle factory "only had a pile of rubble left." "When I got to the area, there were flashing police lights in all directions. Trees collapsed, roads were impassable, and the scene looked like a war zone..." The witness added that rescuers who arrived at the scene had thought there would be no survivors, but they still heard cries for help. While some were not harmed, a large number of people remain unaccounted for.
The tornado also derailed a freight train in Madisonville, west kentucky, but no casualties have been reported for the time being. Affected by the storm, some colleges and universities in Kentucky have canceled winter graduation ceremonies.
"This is one of the toughest nights in Kentucky's history," Behill said at an emergency news conference in the early morning of the 11th local time, "The impact on some areas is difficult to express in words... As dawn draws nearer, we'll hear more bad news. He has now declared a state of emergency in Kentucky.
Tornado-torn tornado-torn car and building ruins in Kentucky, U.S
Kentucky Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement saying he prayed for the lives of communities devastated by the tornado.
As of the morning of the 11th local time, more than 132,000 households in Tennessee had lost power, nearly 60,000 in Kentucky, more than 25,000 in Arkansas, nearly 24,000 in Illinois, and nearly 10,000 in Missouri, totaling more than 200,000 households.
"So many tornadoes, a bit unusual"
The New York Times quoted meteorological experts as saying on the 11th that in general, tornadoes are relatively small-scale and relatively short-duration meteorological events, but this tornado seems to have erupted in a large "cluster", which is also a trend of tornado disasters in the United States in recent years.
Dan Pidnoski, a senior meteorologist in the United States, said on the 10th, "This is what we call a tornado cluster outbreak, that is, a storm system produces a large number of tornadoes in a large geographical area." But it is highly unusual for such a "large and robust" storm system to appear in December, which is usually not seen in the region until May or April.
"It's certainly not unheard of, but at this time of year, there's such a massive tornado outbreak, and there are so many reports of tornadoes, which is a little unusual." Pidnoski said.
On the evening of the 10th, the National Weather Service issued a warning that this "tornado thunderstorm" was moving from eastern Missouri to Illinois. Federal weather forecasters say instability in this weather system arises when warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico interacts with cold fronts.
In addition to this tornado storm, the United States will also usher in a series of extreme weather this weekend. Many areas from the Mississippi River Basin to Ohio will be hit by heavy rainfall and flooding. In addition, heavy snow will fall in the Midwest, sporadic tornadoes may occur in the southern region, and California will also receive heavy rainfall. The U.S. Department of Meteorology predicts that this extreme weather is expected to affect more than 35 million people across the United States this weekend.
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