Workers, volunteers and members of the National Guard deployed to areas of Kentucky hit by a series of hurricanes to begin the long recovery process, including continuing to search for the dead, handing out drinking water bottles and replacing thousands of damaged utility poles.
A swarm of tornadoes and storms Friday night that killed at least 88 people in five states — 74 of them in Kentucky — left a trail of devastation that stretched from Arkansas, where a nursing home was devastated, to Illinois, where Amazon’s distribution warehouse was heavy. Consists.
And in Kentucky, Kentucky Governor Andy Bashir said the death toll could rise as authorities continue to clear rubble, which has hampered recovery efforts. He has mobilized about 450 state National Guard personnel and 95 of them are looking for presumed dead.
“With this much damage and debris, it could be a week, or maybe longer, before we have a definitive tally of the number of lives lost,” the governor stated.
Kentucky officials said the extent of the damage affected their ability to assess damage from Friday’s storms. However, efforts have focused on repairing the power grid, accommodating the homeless, and delivering supplies.
Across the state, about 26,000 homes and businesses have lost power, according to poweroutage.us, including nearly all of those in Mayfield. More than 10,000 homes and businesses were without water as of Monday, and another 17,000 were being warned to boil it down, Michael Doucet, director of the Kentucky Emergency Management Agency, told reporters.
State and local authorities said it could take years for some of the hardest-hit areas to fully recover.
“This is not going to be a week or one month process, guys. This will continue for years to come. This is a huge event,” Doucet said.
In total, five tornadoes hit Kentucky, including one that left a very long trail of destruction, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) away, authorities said.
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