alejandro mayorkas had this waiting for the signed document. that s how quick this thing moved. so thank you, gresia, and please update us on theme. governor, director dawson, thank you. yesterday meant so much to the secretary, to the administrator, to really see and as they said, the pictures didn t do anything, what we saw on the ground. and such an impact and as director dawson said, our thoughts and prayers go to the families, to the families who lost loved ones, to the families who suffered such incredible damages from what we saw. and last night, as you heard, the president did declare a major declaration. and this included eight counties so that s the latest update, and as we see officials speaking to us, look at the other part of your screen, that s part of the devastation here in kentucky.
something they re working on and you can see clear improvement. it is the emotional damage we ve been bumping into talking to people. so many people here you can go up and down the street. on friday night they went through a life or death situation. they woke up, if they were alive, with their houses gone and, you know, they are stressed out. they are emotional, they are sad. the physical damage here we re seeing on a sunny day tremendous efforts and progress. but there are thousands of people here who went through a life or death situation and they are really suffering. the real quick effort will be to get housing. the governor said they opened up state parks to try to house people. he said finally this will be a years long process. when you look at the scope of the effort heavy machinery from giant cranes and backhoes down to little bobcats down to chain sauce and down to just a man pushing a shovel. so really an all-out effort
emotional during that press conference said he was holding it together but today he found it very difficult. one of the things he mentioned the state through a fund that he is establishing at the state level will provide $5,000 in burial expenses for each family and he will ask the funeral homes not to charge those families anything more than that. bill: i thought one of the other numbers that really stood out was the number of power lines that are down. 8,000 need to be dug up and replaced. that will take a very, very long time. dana: also a problem of a lack of water. a couple of the water tanks were water towers were taken down and so michael with the state emergency service said they are dropping water to these places. the other thing that the governor said and something to remember, this is a rural area. there are a lot of places that have livestock for their living and that livestock most likely is lost. bill: one of the areas
administrator criswell and secretary mayorkas had our application all the way to the white house with approvals waiting for the signed document. that s how quick this thing moved. thank you gracia and please update us on fema. governor, director dawson. thank you. yesterday meant so much to the secretary, to the administrator, to really see and as they said the pictures didn t do anything what we saw on the ground. such an impact and as director dawson said our hearts and prayers and thoughts go to the families. for the families who lost loved ones, for the families who suffered such incredible damages from what we saw. and last night as you heard, the president did declare a major declaration. this included eight counties and i ll read those counties off.
make sure people that they are not alone. that this is one state, standing strong with those that have been impacted. i m going to turn it over to michael dotson from emergency management. and we ll hear from the general as well. at the moment, it looks like we have to take questions by email. those instructions have gone out because of a technical difficulty. director dawson. thank you, governor. i can only echo the governor s comments. this tornado event may surpass the 1994 super outbreak as one of the deadliest in history. our hearts go out to all of the families in peril and all of the kentuckians who have lost their lives. i will tell you from speaking to