part of the massive empire. this is the third such mission for jeff bezos's. origins space group and this will be the most crowded yet all six seats filled. stranahan himself squeezed in with five others but he was commenting earlier, ground controlling vanhorn, texas, for the launch. >> t minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, four, main engine start, two, one. [engine roaring] [engine roaring] [silence] [silence] bill: for those just tuning in you are witnessing the third launch of the blue origin rocket, the new shepard rocket named after alan shepard, the first american to go into space on a suborbital flight. all the various new shepard rockets, the first mission -- they are all suborbital, about 10 minutes. we are already about halfway into this. technically getting into space, they are going to have a couple minutes to look around. you might be hearing crewmembers inside. let's go back. >> never seen anything like this. all right. there we go. >> make sure you know where your seat is. >> 19. original sin. >> one minute warning. one minute warning. 40-second warning. >> status check, astronaut michael strand. [silence] [roaring sound] julie: you are witnessing a picture perfect landing, the third such one, 10 minutes, paying passengers on this flight. michael strahan, the nfl great and good morning america host, laura shepard churchly, daughter of alan shepard. in homage to him and also on board in dillon taylor, ellen dicks, cameron best, lane's son. we are told it is $28 million so $2.8 million if you're in that league you don't much fuss over that. is this wraps up you see the booster itself a picture perfect landing. him and if you want to call it that, astronaut are housed but it seems again, two other launches we have from jeff bezos as he expands his reach beyond suborbital flights, moving for longer to include orbital missions to the moon. let's see if we can hear anything from the astronauts. they are all astronauts depending on your definition of what makes an astronaut but touching that point, let's listen in. >> oh yeah, look at that. my phone. did it, we did it! >> on the ground! what a blast! change i can see the shoots. >> the skylight. >> look at the horizon. >> got to watch it. >> we are not landing on a mountain. >> standby touchdown. standby touchdown. >> look at that! >> unbelievable. bill: a better of rough landing at least the way it looked. they made it successfully. the cost savings alone of reusable boosters change the collection of space travel as we know it, michael strahan, the daughter of alan shepard, it was a suborbital flight, john glenn had an orbital flight, the first american to orbit the earth and we do understand jeff bezos is planning another series of rockets to do that. these are relatively short and sweet and in this case safe which is a good thing. also on board dhillon taylor and his son cameron, put up $28 million each to get the opportunity. no numbers are reliable here but a successful mission before the crew here and jeff bezos who has aggressive dreams to expand beyond these short and sweet tourist flights more popularly known but tourists when they are paying pay top dollar before they. casey steagall is with us. and you look at this, one of the things that first strikes you is how reusable it is. the reusable booster that lands on its own, the capsule itself, fairly precise, you are in space for a little while but there was always a debate whether they can claim to be astronauts, they say we were up there, don't care how long it was, we are astronauts. where are you on this? >> the question continues to hunt us. space flyer is a big term for me. i spent nine years before i got a sniff of outer space. now it is different, they are in microgravity for a few minutes and come back. the philosophy of the goal they are trying to achieve is quite different, gives them the moniker of astronaut, nobody is going to ask me what my opinion or his or once they do like you did i don't know that they will put it in concrete anytime soon but they made it to space and the way the rules are written, 62 nautical miles is the line of space so kudos to them. bill: you followed many of these launches. i'm curious about the tourist in space thing. version, less so with elon musk, where do you make of where this whole thing is? >> it is quite fascinating, in temperatures in the low 30s in west texas and we were just out here in late october for the second successful mission when william shatner went upended was warm, these have been back to back to back pretty rapidly. when you think about the inaugural flight with jeff bezos himself in july and flight number 2 with humans on board with shatner in october and here we are right before christmas, the third successful mission and that is pretty quick if you think about it in terms of not much time in between actual launches themselves. that speaks to the sustainability of what you were talking about, you look at the fact the passenger capsule, the booster, much of the system that flew these people to the carmen line today was the same equal and that successfully carried out the mission, the previous two. the fact that it is reused is a big deal. prior to launch this morning, they play some promotional videos while the press is getting ready and announcing how the origin is hiring in and expanding into these miami and washington, various cities around the country in texas. and and and >> they were simple together fairly quickly. only a couple weeks so we found out michael strand was going to be on the mission. that they were going to get alan shepard's daughter on this particular mission. what kind of training or preparation do they have for this words and notice to those who get an invite to be on the flight but don't have to pay for it. how is that put together? >> good question. i ask the folks at blue origin to disclose that. as you well know it is interesting covering this because there is some information they deem proprietary and they don't release, one of those being the cost of the tickets when they refer to paying customers. it has been speculated, you throughout a price tag but how much notice do they get? we don't really know because we know, the moment. origin announced one of these launches, we tried to get our accommodations when we come down here to cover these and they are sold out and you've got to drive to and a half hours in. it is a small community down here but we don't know how much notice they get. as far as the training goes, talking about it was controversial. these people are astronauts who visited the carmen line, it is not the actual training, that clearly a nasa professional goes through. bill: he is always a gentleman. we are waiting for the astronauts were space visitors pop out. michael strahan stands out, a tall guy, 6 foot 5, in traditional space travel, the capsule, equivalent to it from the old days of apollo, crowded in there. did you feel claustrophobic, that feeling of being packed in? >> only in the soyuz capsule. it is more traditional, more small, more compact, you're sitting in the fetal position, to do that has an astronaut is in and of itself a difficult task. the shuttle is pretty really. i never felt cost of phobic, it is a 3-bedroom house, that was no problem whatsoever. will: they are a little jarred, the lunch itself, professionals and amateurs alike come away with that jolt, the adrenaline or whatever else of this launch, feeling of gs on your body. >> the geforce is typically less then 3 which is not a big deal. it is more uncomfortable than anything else. the landing in the soil use listening to a control car crash they teach you things like don't stick your tongue out, keep your job close. hydraulic system to take the shock absorber. they are still pretty rough. your head was very close to the dashboard, those were things to worry about. i imagine blue origin made that part of your training. what your position should be and all that sort of thing. a couple days of training, real important stuff for sure. heather: there were safety for those who worked in blue origin. there was no confirmation of those allegations. >> that's right. they were unfounded or it was found inconclusive. i don't have a monitor with me and we don't see the live pictures but a lag with my laptop. this is some of the best stuff as folks reemerge. the blue origin folks that are out there in the desert on location. neil: we will see what they are saying. >> how much? [laughing] neil: you are watching the return of the astronauts, the tallest of citizen astronauts to fly in a specialized suit, a pound overweight i must point out. very tall guy. one of the things they were concerned about, with all those seats occupied how would they handle that? if you ever had a chance to look inside this capsule it looks very roomy but it is brief enough that if you have problems, only ten minutes. we forget casey steagall is with me and kind enough to monitor these development in the frigid cold. there are more such missions planned. that jeff bezos is going to up the ante with orbital flights down the road. elon musk is well ahead of him on that front including unmanned missions and the like but this is a billionaire battle royale. >> what makes this different from what you mentioned, this is the only fully autonomous project. there are no pilots on board this thing. that is why to be honest with you i hold my breath the 11 minutes we stand here because you are watching something that has been done before many times and it is a bit of a gamble so when you are witnessing history you hold your breath here and when you hear those sonic booms you get two of them. we've seen this several times covering these but you get two, one when the rocket booster makes its reentry and you feel the concussion in your chest and then you get the second one not long thereafter and the passenger capsule breaking through the sound barrier and making reentry. it is quite amazing to see here in person but when you think of the danger and all the things that could possibly go wrong and i suppose being a news person that is how my mind thinks. you automatically think what could go wrong potentially but now again this is the third successful human mission under the belt but when you think about it, once they press that button and set the sequence in motion and the new shepherd suborbital rocket system takes off there is no turning back and there is no one, no person at the helm. it is a computer. the other components of it that fascinates me is the rocket booster how it reenters and makes a controlled landing. near the carmen line and propels the it is in freefall, the rocket booster starts freefalling to earth and when it gets 1000 feet or so above the earth's surface its engines fire up. i can only describe it as a drone, maneuvers itself for what origin calls the controlled pinpoint landing and they have a concrete pad and watch that thing land where it is supposed to after it has been up the internationally recognized boundary of space into freefalling to make a controlled pinpoint landing all of the computers, all of the systems, everything that has to be working in proper operation, this has to be a well oiled machine to go off successfully to breathe the sigh of relief, 11 minutes is up and on the ground safely, william shatner when he emerged from that capsule in october and was emotional, some people poked fun at him and he got some ribbing for it but one can only imagine the experience that you see up there. one of my favorite parts is you toss to the first sound we get when we get the first audio of them and i'm not sure who it was but i heard someone say i've never seen anything like this before. it gave me goosebumps because it is fascinating and you wonder what it does look like. we get a sense of those high-quality cameras and amazing technology they have on board that thing as well but to see it up close or from a great distance had a profound impact on william shatner and he was very emotional, not able to put into words what he saw and i found it fascinating for a man who earned a living and made a living being famous and being an effective communicator. neil: jeff bezos said you had to see to appreciate it. the booster that landed first doesn't seem that far from the astronaut capsule itself. both seem to be precisely where they were supposed to. >> reporter: it really is and to witness it. we've gotten familiar with drones, with our coverage and integrating it into our news coverage along with weather events, to watch these drone pilots and the fox news flight team operate these drones, how smart they are and they record their gps when they take off and they know where they are supposed to land and what their home base is, it is fascinating when you see the similar technology. that the only way i can describe it is fully autonomous system that has successfully taken multiple passengers to and back from space if you call it that. the internationally recognized boundary known as the carmen line which is 62 miles above the earth's surface, the internationally recognized boundary before turning to earth. it is 60 feet tall, it does accelerate to speeds of mach 3, the capsule separates from the booster at about 250,000 feet in the air and that is when it starts making its return. the fact we are talking about a controlled space back here in what is hundreds and hundreds of acres of land that bezos grabbed up. a while back with his vision in mind. all of a sudden people could argue, you could argue something and it could show up on your doorstep within an hour or the next day. some people might have thought you were crazy and what happened with the company that is amazon and there are downfalls and criticism of that being such a global giant in the world of commerce but it changed the landscape. he has a vision and believes when you read blue origin's mission statement he believes one day people live and work in outer space, we could potentially send industries that are bad for plaintiff to outer space. it is really quite fascinating. i encourage people if at all interested in watching the coverage to check out what the mission is but he has visions of what he believes the future looks like and jeff bezos thinks outer space is part of that and part of what happened back here is part of that. neil:amazon billions made this possible. we have severe weather in the southern united states. i want to go back to clayton. jeff bezos spent a lot of time talking to laura shepherd churchly, daughter of the first man in space, alan shepard's mission lasted 15 minutes. this wasn't even quite that but it does show you how far we have come. i'm wondering what you make of that as alan shepard would be looking at commenting on this and seeing his daughter participate, what would he be thinking? >> i'm sure he would be very proud of her and what she accomplished. what we have to keep in mind is bezos and company, space x, all these guys were building on what we did in the 60s. we take the knowledge we learned then and throw in all these great new technology developments, new materials, faster computers, lighter weight, all that stuff and still doing this the same way, put a rocket out there, launch it, parachutes to bring it back home. it is all the same. we just do it better and more efficiently because the knowledge we've learned in the most important thing is with a bring this back to beaver used. that is the peace i find the most fascinating. it will be interesting to me if he intends to do orbital flights, jc would make a great astronaut, we need to think ahead, what do we do if something goes wrong? imagine if you are in an orbital mission, like space x had their toilet break or someone that's a kidney stone or heart attack how do you deal with that stuff? that is what nasa is really good at. i trust these guys for thinking that way and i wish them success. i wish i was rich enough to be, cashtronaut and go with them but this is all good. it is all good. neil:final word, thank you for your inspiring mission yourself again and again, the risks and dangers in space but a good point about this autonomous mission. it makes you worry a little bit, what would happen but they are all back safe, mission accomplished lodz before we get word of the next crew for the next flight, billionaire to conquer the heavens, plenty of company there. u up-to-date on inspiring or uplifting, the deadly tornadoes that have been ripping across the south and the midwest, the death toll could rise to more than 100. will nunley has more. how did things go? >> reporter: it absolutely tragic site. you may have heard in our coverage about this candle factory, 100 workers at the time of this massive tornado ripped through the heart of the sound. that is happening behind me. windss picking up. i will step off camera and give you a little bit of a closer view of what is happening. maintain respectful distance because this is still a very active search and recovery area to push in, the ambulances and fire trucks lined up, heavy machines delivered here to the side. behind this line of farm equipment, this is what is left with the candle factory. it is destroyed. you see the cars parked over here on the center of the screen, this was the parking lot for the employees, 100 people believed to be in that pile of rubble, the final total is not clear at this point because this is a very active recovery and rescue mission. look at the landscape littered with pieces in the building. we look towards what is down town, more of the same. a clear-cut path, cars are crunched up like tin cans. we focused a lot on this area where they do this, this frantic search for people in this factory and we also have several towns here throughout this area dealing with multiple homes destroyed, we are at the start of what i feel will be a staggering amount of casualties from the storm and we are just beginning to get this picture here and was we are seeing so far is heartbreaking. i have been talking with neighbors, walking around the streets and asking them to put in perspective what was around you and they would say this foundation was my home, there was a school, there was a post office. all those things are gone now and this is just one town in a 200 mile track. a 200 mile track of this incredible fanatic activity on the tennessee kentucky line pushing toward central kentucky, lots of long hours, long days and long nights ahead for this community. according to the latest census, 10,000 people so you can imagine there were just dozens of ambulances at the ready, having to bring in resources around the communities that are struggling with their own disasters right now. the national guard has been called in and activated here in kentucky and resources are coming in from everywhere they can in the town is asking for all the help they can get. neil cole mac -- neil:congressman, my prayers for you and your constituents and those in the storm. what can you tell us? anymore we are learning about how far this spread, how many people might have lost their lives? >> it will be staggering, more than we can bear. the son has been up a few hours now, rescue and recovery efforts in densely populated towns, between 3500, and 10,000. now in rural areas homes have been devastated, reports where the roof was off and people alive, found people that weren't as fortunate but it is going to take through the day, the full extent of the death toll, it will be a lot but it is already by my estimate around 50 thus far and the governor projected it could exceed hundred so really bad, amazing to see destroyed property. we've had tornadoes a couple times a year usually hit rural areas but this tornado, this path hit the most densely populated community in five different counties. neil:we are told the tornadoes were in a cluster, there would be many simultaneously and there didn't seem to be warning for that, do you know whether residents had much time to respond or particularly the cluster activity, something far more involved than experts thought? >> the tornado formed in my hometown, where the major devastation occurred was going on all night. i heard residents heard the tornado alarm but in mayfield and central kentucky where most of the damage occurred, if in fact they got any prior warning from their alert. i don't know everything, i just don't know for sure if those horn sounded in time. neil:talking about the weather, how significantly cold, not supposed to happen around now but it is, rebuilding efforts are going to be enormous but as far as the area, you can tell those who have survived it seems so random. you've seen some homes and businesses that were barely touched and others a few feet away, hard to make out this live footage, were completely demolished. the randomness of it is striking. >> in addition to the property damage, loss of life. about 10 counties are without power now so there's a mad theash to get power back, very cold right now but it is going to be very cold tonight. we also have different water tanks that have been destroyed and in mayfield the sewer system was demolished. there is no sewer system. that can't be repaired in a 24 hour time period. we have construction crews that have been notified. fema has been notified. we've been can indication with the white house. state and federal authorities are on the scene. it does your heart good to see the neighbors come together. this is in a rural part of america. a lot of farm equipment. farmers bringing their tractors and equipment out before the sun came up to try to help lift roofs and debris off of homes and businesses. a lot of people have been rescued. amazing people have been pulled from the debris that were alive. an amazing thing. neil:thank you for taking the time. we are getting a statement from amazon on the destruction of its key warehouse where the roof caved in in illinois where two people were killed, a company spokesman said we are saddened by the news that our family passed away as a result of the storm and we thank first responders for their ongoing efforts and continue to provide support. more after this. neil: feel stuck with student loan debt? move to sofi and feel what it's like to get your money right. ♪ ♪ move your student loan debt to sofi— you could save with low rates and no fees. earn a $1,000 bonus when you refi— and get your money right. ♪ neil: last time we saw inflation running is rampant, ronald reagan was in the white house and growing concerns what we are looking at could get worse. a resident is trying to i think pivotal little bit on this issue but what are you hearing? >> inflation is a problem including the commander in chief, president joe biden, spoke about inflation when asked about it last night on the tonight show. >> president biden: the truth is the economy has grown more than any time in 60 years. the unemployment rate is down 4.2%. it will go lower in my view. we have inflation on things that matter to people's lives. >> reporter: the labor department out with numbers that are grim, inflation, 6.8%, the fastest since 1982, a year after ronald reagan took the oath of office. prices have fallen at the pump fart thanks to the falling price of natural gas and gasoline. the white house is not where it should be pricewise but nevertheless the president does see a silver lining at the pump. what to do about inflation, the president and his team say it may not be simple but they are proposing something they believe will work, the build back better social spending plan that focuses on childcare, healthcare and employment. the reason we are showing senator joe manchin is he's likely obstructionist forgetting the plan passed the senate. >> he should look closely at who has a planet who is shouting from a megaphone about it being a problem. we all agreed is a problem. who is going to do something about it? >> reporter: when people hear 1982, last time we saw inflation rises quickly there's a concern between republicans, some democrats, when you hear about the $1.9 trillion price tag for bills back better the president and senate majority leader chuck schumer optimistic something gets done before the end of the year to offset this inflation, republicans not so optimistic. neil: a quick clarification talking about the word falling gas prices. we should point out they rocketed as soon as we got news the friday after thanksgiving closed away dollars a barrel on oil and you saw a run up close to $0.30 a gallon on gas when it turned out the fears might have been overblown, oil is priced in the open market. the same fear ran down when the fear didn't look justified. fortunately taking sides of political positions had nothing to do with it. we are back to where we were with oil and gas prices. more after this, karl rove with more on how this could impact bills back better, the odds of getting it passed are not looking good, stay with us, you are watching fox. and all that experience has led her to a job that feels like home. with home instead, you too can become a caregiver to older adults. apply today. liz, you nerd, cough if you're in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. you too can become a caregiver to older adults. what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. xfinity rewards are our way of thanking you just for being with us. enjoy rewards like sing family fun nights! rent sing for $1, then belt out all your favorite tunes from the movie with sing karaoke. plus, see sing 2 in theaters with buy-one-get-one free fandango tickets. join over a million members by signing up for free on the xfinity app. our thanks. your rewards. neil: inflation getting worse, build back will make it better is the president's view. i don't think he agrees but maybe he will prove me wrong. in the flesh here, what do you make of this argument that this is the cure for what ails us? >> i think it is a bunch of baloney. let's be clear about something. prices have risen by 7% year-over-year, wages have risen 2% year-over-year. even if you're getting an increase in your paycheck it is not keeping up with the cost of living in your falling further behind. what is spending more money going to do if it is red ink? we have spent for covid relief $6.3 trillion between march of 2020 and march of this year, all of it red ink and adding to the national deficit and the bipartisan infrastructure bill had $550 billion of new spending not paid for, grand total of $6.8 trillion and now what are we going to do? pass the bills back better bill which yesterday the cbo said you have 10 years of revenue, and the child tax credit and income tax credit, a couple years of affordable care subsidies, a couple years of this and that but if you take it and say we are going to spend those programs over 10 years and made permanent, $3 trillion more. neil: the cbo said it is going to come up short even with the old numbers but a lot of democrats say the way we prescription drugs and the like, i said we didn't have either of those before the pandemic and we got to 3% unemployment. family change that? >> it won't. the idea of saying to the american people we will by the political -- political supportive some people by spending your tax dollars a more importantly by spending money we don't have that you have to pick up the tab for and that will make the economy stronger doesn't so with people. on some level ordinary americans understand if the government spends money it has to come from somewhere. it is coming from deficit spending it will be coming from them and their kids and grandkids and not at economic growth. bill: in the midterms, what i'm looking at. >> democrats lose the house of representatives, history says they will. since 1818, the second party system has happened twice. the senate is a much more ify deal because there are a lot more republican seats a but if conditions are similar to what they are today, if they have halfway decent candidates to take the senate. neil: we are waiting to hear about the horrific damage from 2 dozen or more tornadoes, the governor fears 110 in his state alone have died. more after this. you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. ... one of my favorite supplements is qunol turmeric. turmeric helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. unlike regular turmeric supplements qunol's superior absorption helps me get the full benefits of turmeric. the brand i trust is qunol. >> arkansas declared a state of emergency after the roof collapsed on a nursing home with people inside the building. we know at least one person is dead there. where do we stand right now? the arkansas county judge joining us on the phone. thank you very much. i'm wondering, what are things looking like there right now? >> good morning. you know, at this point we really completing our rescue efforts and starting to look at cleanup and that sort of thing. they were very pleased with the nursing home. they have found other nursing homes in the area to take care of their remaining patients, so everything that we're doing all we can at this point, neil. neil: was there much warning, marvin? i know we have advanced systems, particularly in your area and heard in other areas they were going off pretty much around the clock. what was it like there? >> you know, it was the same thing. we feel like our warning systems, everything we've heard at that they were adequate, people that, you know, had storm shelters had found time to get there, you know. our local meteorologists had been warning about the potential of a severe threat for several days so we had been well-prepared, the best that we could for this event. neil: they're still talking about turbulent weather conditions over the next 48 hours, what are you hearing in that regard? >> i've not heard that to be quite honest with you. we've been really busy with what's right in front of us and i've not gotten an update on reports of weather changes, but we've been trying to take care of what's in front of us right now. neil: how is your family doing, marvin? >> you know, they're fine. i appreciate you asking that, but my family is -- was scattered across and a son on the other side of the state. we were thankful. the tornado we had early last year was very close to our home, but this one was in other areas of our county so we've just been trying to take care of our neighbors and our friends. >> i'm wondering, too, with the cold weather afterwards. i don't know how it is there now. >> sure. neil: but a lot of people, that's the biggest surprise at all the severity and the number of these tornados, this late in the game in december, it's not unprecedented, but something of this magnitude is. it is double jarring, i guess, for you and others in the area, i guess, right? >> you know, it is, neil. you know, our biggest issue we have right now, we have fairly widespread power outages with a lot of lines down. we're getting good reports from our utility companies about bringing in help and getting those things up and getting people's lights on, but that is a real concern for folks to be able to keep their houses warm and stay at home the best they can. so, that's probably our biggest thing. neil: i get you, well, marvin, hang in there and for those around you, we're hoping for the best, but, man, oh, man, what you folks have been through. marvin day, following all of that very, very closely. tennessee, one of the states that was hit very, very hard. in general at least three people now reported killed in that state. for the latest how the state is dealing with this, tennessee republican senator bill hagerty. thank you for taking the time, how are things looking there? >> you were talking about the judge there in arkansas, come across the mississippi, we've been hit harder and we recorded three dead and thousands without electricity, neil. i was talking with my good friend of mine in tennessee, the barn was completely smashed and thank goodness he was in the home in the basement safe. enough people had early warning and i got a call in 3:00 in the morning and everyone is coming to the fore, praying that their neighbors are safe and the people in kentucky hit far worse and our hearts and prayers go out to them. neil: and we always talk about emergency response and this was fairly widespread. i'm just wondering as well whether we look at our response systems or they worked fine and this was like a once in a generation kind of confluence of events for which there could be little warning and little to do with that warning. >> well, the warning system worked well here in tennessee. our tennessee emergency response management team is great and my mother is a great emergency response person she called me at 3:00 in the morning to make sure we were safe. those systems work well here and we've exercised them a good deal in tennessee. we've had tornado damage in the past that's significant and nothing like what i saw transpire in mayfield, kentucky. that's true devastation and our prayers are with the folks there. neil: this is such a hit, five states as you've said, senator. i'm wondering for the emergency response now on the part of the federal government, what can you tell us? >> well, i know that leadership in each of the states are communicating with the white house, with their federal counterparts and i'm certain that they'll do everything they can to bring federal resources to bear. you can be certain that senator blackburn and i will will. neil: senator, thank you very, very much. hang in there and my best to all of our folks. >> thank you, neil. neil: what a horrific nightmare, to see the rampage of mother r nature. the kentucky governor is speaking right now. he did note earlier, the amount of people that could be . >> for those that have seen it, what it's done here in grace county and elsewhere, it is indescribable. the level of devastation is unlike anything i have ever seen. you see parts of industrial buildings roofs or sidings in trees, if trees are lucky enough to stand. huge metal poles bent in half if not broken. buildings that are no longer there. huge trucks that have been picked up and thrown. and sadly, far too many homes that people were likely in entirely devastated. this will be, i believe, the deadliest tornado system to ever run through kentucky, now, earlier this morning, at about 5 a.m. we were pretty sure that we would lose over 50 kentuckians. i'm now certain that that number is north of 70. it may in fact end up exceeding 100 before the day is done. the damage is even worse now that we have first light. a couple of places have been hit incredibly hard, certainly mayfield here grace county, but everywhere along the line of this tornado that touched down and stayed down for 227 miles over 200 in kentucky have been severely and significantly impacted. i've been on the phone with nearly now every county judge in areas that have been impacted and we've pledged our full support. i have talked to the secretary of homeland security while i have been here, he has pledged his full support and we're hearing that from every part of the federal administration and from our u.s. senators and from our congressmen. kentucky is united today behind the people of western kentucky. we want to be there to help dig out, to help make rescues, to help provide when people are suffering and then to help rebuild. this is not a one-day thing. you know, this is one state and we will stand united to make sure that we can lift our families back up. but please know that there are a lot of families that need your prayers. prayers that somebody may be found, or prayers to help them through the grieving process. dawson springs up the road also hit incredibly hard. that's where i'll be headed next. i want to call on a number of people today to give you an idea of different things that we are doing. i can tell you that the state of emergency was put into place last night before midnight. the national guard is deployed and will be in communities very shortly and that's now going to be augmented. we'll hear from agitent-general in a minute. and i want to hear from who is working really hard and hear from the mayor and move to emergency management, national guard, we'll hear from the transportation cabinet and what they're doing, state police and others. judge. >> thank you, governor. you know, this is probably the toughest day of my life right here. when you-- when you run for office, you don't know what to expect, but when you say your communities and your county in this kind of situation, it's tough. it's tough on our communities, the communities, it's tough on our families. you know, last night i was with my family and i was watching-- we were watching this storm and we were watching noah and trent with the weather at local 6 and you know, those folks did a really good job of informing what was going to happen and, but i had an eerie feeling about it and i didn't feel good about it and as the thing, as the governor said the 200 miles on the ground, watching it head toward grace county and you know, that it was a reality at that time. so the only thing i can say it you all at this time, what we need from everyone is we need your prayers, we need your help. the governor, our federal and state, local, everyone, so many surrounding counties, judge climber is here with us our adjoining county, our local officials right now, you want to know where heroes are they're out here in the trenches taking-- trying to find people. that's what they're doing right now and they don't ask for nothing. they just want to resolve the situation and help somebody. there are people coming from all over the country here right now. we are very blessed with what the -- with what we're having, with the help and the situation. our sheriff's department, and i'm not going to start naming folks, our police department, our fire departments, our volunteer fire departments, e.m.s., hospitals, health department, so many of them are out there right now and they're going through. and you know what's-- we're all here and right now there are still streets and roads that are blocked, people needing help so i ask you, prayer, prayer, please, pray for these folks. they will need supplies, the governor's helping with his administration to help get supplies in here to grace county. but what i'm saying to you is, if you -- if you just need-- somebody might need someone to talk to. right now mayfield high school there are 50 people waiting to go somewhere and nowhere to go. they need somebody to talk to. we're in this room. there are people cold, the temperature is going to drop tonight, so, that we're going to be in a situation there. we have no water here in grace county. that affects a lot of the rural areas of the grace county and work through that with maple water and electric and a lot of our utilities. the power is out, mayor, for several miles around the city. there again, i'm asking for each and every one of you to pray for our community. thank you. >> when i'm always asked what should i say about mayfield and grace county, quickly, my answer is the people. and what's happening today is exactly what we do best. we have been hit had, our commonwealth has been hit, people we love have lost loved ones and our hearts are broken because the people we work with, the people we know, our families are hurting. so i echo with was just said. and echo across the commonwealth, people i went to high school with and college with, what can we do? right now what we need from people standing in the room and directing other people, pray for us, we will be fine, we will be fine, but today we're focused on those who have lost so much and that's where our hearts are, with them who have lost the people they love and the property and the way they make a living. so pray for us, stand with us, and we will come out stronger because of this. thank you. >> next we'll hear from director dobson from emergency management and we have an incredible team locally here augmented by the state. i've watched it all firsthand, being in the emergency operation center since about 1:00 this morning and hearing the reports, but also the response come in in real-time. i believe within the hour or so we will have a federal disaster declaration. i've been assured that by homeland security and the white house and let that being reimbursed quicker. it's going to bring some additional resources here. we will see, more resources coming into that area to respond to this disaster, i believe, than we've ever seen. director. >> thank you, governor. and my first comments are to those we -- families of those we have lost, my sincere hope for a speedy recovery. we'll be with you for weeks, months and years in this fight. already you've seen neighbors helping neighbors. that's what kentucians do. thank you to the judge and to the mayor. we're here with federal support and staff and as the governor indicated we have the kentucky transportation cabinet already on the ground and the national guard is here. the governor has spoken this morning with the team administrator. already in progress on the highway is a fema usr team which will assist with the search and rescue as the plant, we have a power systems package coming, generators that can power up to a facility as large has a hospital. we have a team, incident management teams that organize the entire effort for weeks. we have an incident support team which will come right here in graves county and assist in organizing the search and rescue efforts. i want to thank local jefferson ema, came down and got on the road within two hours and brat assets from pleasant ridge park and staying for several days and thank you all for all of you first response heroes, you were out when the wind were passing through and squall lines were here. thank you for that. we're also looking at, as the governor indicated, we're asking fema for immediate reimbursement for category a and category b damages and many of you know what that is and that will be an immediate process. we have teams from kentucky emergency management. we're sending an imt team down here as early as tomorrow. so the resources are flowing. we have water on the road. i know your water system was destroyed, including the tower. we also have just had a generous offer from walmart to start doing drop shipment of bottled water and we'll continue with that. we're here to help you and again, any support that you need, don't hesitate to call the state eoc through tracy. thank you. >> some outside the region, maybe even outside the state are already asking how they can help. we are working right now on setting up a direct fund. that's going to be, i believe, called western kentucky tornado relief fund. that we're going to be able to accept help into and direct it here in the ways that it's needed the most and to be able to be flexible with the leadership here. that's in process, but i hope everybody can see that this whole state, this whole state is with this area. you don't just have the government and head of emergency management with the head of our kentucky national guard, which deploys at our largest emergencies and he's here to witness it firsthand. we're staging operations in what, about eight counties or close to it with requests coming in, so general lamberton. >> thank you, governor. just to share with everybody at this junction, literally as i speak and as the governor insinuated, we've got guardsmen from other communities that are en route to the graves county right now. these folks are coming to assist with everything from search and rescue and i've been able to speak with both the police chief and the fire chief as well, and we've identified some of the concerns as far as security need as a result of the damage that's been done at this junction. so some of the guardsmen that we've got showing up, will also be coming in to address that. we've got representatives from our unit up in paducah and he's serving quite simply as kind of a liaison right now to get kind of a-- what are the needs are. and those needs-- and on the ground and what the needs are. >> what that phone said. that's this one. >> there we go. >> apparently all i do is pick it up. >> just wanted to be sure that you're tracking what i was saying, so it's redundant at this junction. but the liaison i just mentioned so he's feeding back into paducah, what some of the other situations, pertinence where we as a guard can assist with and folks are coming forward from his unit as well. what we're tracking this in our joc, joint operations center, working with folks out eoc, emergency operations center to coordinate the support coming to you and prioritize whether it's a civilian agency, an emergency support function, or a national guard asset, that it serves the community here and it will maintain that contact chief to be sure that we're addressing whatever you and your folks identify on the ground. thank you. >> i think as of this morning we have deployed a little over 180 national guardsmen. we are increasing that number as more requests come in. also trying to use our armories in different areas like taylor county and others as a place of refuge for people. i know one of the big challenges debris removal. so i wanted us to be able to hear from the transportation cabinet that i know is working with so many folks here. i know, i think we're going to hear, more than 50 people that are out there right here in the area and i've said if there are any others, it's time to get them in their vehicle. >> thank you, governor. so just to give you a brief overview of transportation cabinet here and district one, we've covered the 12 most western counties. as the storm traveled western kentucky it traveled, fulton, hickman, graves, marshall and lyonnes county and we have them out on the state routes as well as the county routes that intersect with those state routes through the swath of the storm, loaders, track loaders, dozers, excavators, chain saws and manpower. in mayfield we have approximately 20 folks that are from other crews and from our other counties assisting our graves county grew and then altogether in graves county we have about 40 folks helping assist with state routes, city routes and we've been in conjunction with the chief of police here, the public works director, the mayor, the state police, coordinating our efforts on every route there is in the city of mayfield. in totality we have about approximately 170 police across our district one in some capacity addressing this storm. we have every large piece of equipment we have at our disposal in operation currently. >> thank you. >> chief, or chief, would you like to offer anything additional? you're welcome to. i wanted to make sure we had an opportunity to hear directly from them. they've been working through the night and hear from the state police and open up for questions. i want to thank a.t.f. to bring in even more individuals to help out. we appreciate our federal partners. >> i'm the fire chief and e.m.s. director for the city of mayfield. a quick update. first, our priority one right now is the mcp candle factory where the bulk of our assets are right now. still working through rescue and recovery operations. it is a large facility that was devastated in this tornado, so it's going to be a long, difficult job, but we've got good crews out there. we've got a lot of help from across the state coming in. we're very thankful for that. as of right now, our e.m.s. volume has stabilized. we also have a lot of e.m.s. crews coming in from across the state. as of right now, 11 different counties have sent ambulance crews to mayfield to assist us. i can't say thank you enough for the help that we've received. everywhere from our neighboring counties to vanderbilt, the kentucky board of e.m.s. has allocated we hope additional eight ambulances from all over the state of kentucky to come in and assist us. i want to thank air vac. for patients and staff from others to assist us on ground operations. overnight we had four structure fires, very difficult to get to the fires. once we did with the help of our volunteer departments in the county, we were able to get each of those extinguished and that's where it's under control. we are dealing with some issues right now, station one, which is our main station. in the direct line of the tornado yesterday. so that station is fully inoperable at this point. we had to extricate our own fire and e.m.s. apparatus from that building just so we could respond last night. so today my next priority is going to be to find the new station and a temporary home for 45 firefighters and our apparatus. again, i want to thank all the support that we've received. across this room, across the state, the people that have called and just showed up to help, i can't say enough, just that how honored i am at the love we've been shown by our neighbors. thank you. >> my name is nathan kent, the chief of police for the city of mayfield. our mission is fluid, as it's gone through the night. and i think it will continue to change throughout the next couple of days. we've been blessed with support from our sister law enforcement agencies, state police has been here from the beginning, murray city police department and paducah police officers set off this morning and they're patrolling in the city to assist the mayfield police department. one of our biggest challenges in the days to come is going to be interoperability and communications, we've lost some of our assets in the city and state police and communications branch is assisting with that in bringing radios that will allow all of our first responders to communicate not only with the post, but with one another so we're anxious to get that component in place. in addition to the fire station, our police station was destroyed in the storm. the bulk of our fleet parked there has also been compromised. but we are making due. again, we're borrowing vehicular assets from other departments and have been gracious to bring manpower long before the sun came up this morning. the fayfield police department will begin 12-hour shifts and we've sent some of our people out for 24 hours to get some rest and other departments were here to help us and beginning tonight we'll provide 24-who your patrol again beginning this evening. the mayor and the judge executive, the county have spoken and there's going to be a curfew put in place for this evening, beginning at 7 p.m. the kicks particulars of that, within the city limits and those parts of the county that have been directly affected by the path of the storm. so, after dark we'll go dusk to dawn if you're not an emergency responder, you need not be in any of those areas after dark. if you are, our law enforcement officers are going to investigate those circumstances. so we just ask for the public support. we still have much work to do in terms of foot searches within the city limits themselves to make sure that we've found everybody that needs assistance and needs help. and that, i'm sure, will go on not only through today, but beyond. so very grateful for the help that we've been given. very grateful for the governor's response and for the state's response. it would be overwhelming without knowing that we had those resources coming as well. so, i don't want to step away without saying that our first priority is with the families that have lost people and i'm just proud of the men and women that stepped forward here to help those folks in need. >> last we'll hear from the kentucky state police working through the night in every region that have been impacted. how one way i was getting my information in real-time. so it's trooper burgess. please. >> the state police has been working very closely with all of our local agencies here to assist in any way we can. we are working to get communications working for all of our local agencies together. our primary focus right now is preserving as many lives as we can. we are asking that anybody who is not emergency responder, if they are currently in a safe location, to remain there and not enter into the areas where we are working so that we can get the help to the people that need it as quickly as possible. we appreciate all the support from our local agencies that are here to help us, from the surrounding counties and beyond and again, we're just here to try and preserve as many lives as possible. >> thank you. all right. we'll open it up for questions. if you just start by who the question is for, we want to make sure the public is getting the very best information possible. mark. >> this will be for anybody at the site search and rescue. how difficult is the search and rescue at the factory and that people may be still alive. >> i'll turn it over for those who have been there overnight. i just came from there. we're going to lose a lot of lives in that facility and i pray that there will be another rescue. i pray that there'll be another one or two, but it's a dire situation at this point. seeing it, i think it was absolutely incredible the number of people that were safe. but i know it's really hard given the number of people that were in it. i think the largest loss of life in this tornado event is and will be there and it may end up being the largest loss of life in any tornado event in a single location again in the state's history. anybody else? >> that's heavy machinery. i mean, pulling -- it's the building that's flattened, it's cars from the parking lot on top of it. it's huge metal drums, even ones with corrosive chemicals that were inside, it's pretty awful to witness. >> do you have any idea how many rescues you've effected through the night at this point not just at this facility, but throughout the city? >> i can't give you a hard number. i can tell you that we loaded a school bus from an apartment complex in the city called the floor apartments that we were able to evacuate around 30 people from na facility. we sent in crews, and one person got out. he walked to station one. he let us know there had been a structural collapse and people trapped and just from that one apartment complex we had around 30. overnight we've-- at mcp. there with as a steady flow of walking wounded rescues. we have been working tirelessly through the night and not just my department, but many departments and went through dangerous out there and as the governor said, we just left and i walked up and as soon as i walked-- got within 15 feet of the rubble i see 55 gallon drums with corrosive placards that are turned over, crushed, leaking out. there is a -- the structure is just a pile of bent metal and steel and machinery and there are-- the city of paducah fire department rescue team, they worked for the entire night rescuing victims. the have i of murray sent their downtown to assist and they were able to save many victims. and we had to at times crawl over casualties to get to live victims and mark those casualties as we worked our way to the rubble, that's just a picture of what they're dealing with down there. i can't give you a hard number right now because they are scattered all over the county and then dd and a huge area there at mcp. so-- >> and i certainly believe across the state there have been hundreds of successful rescues. i think one of the difficult facts right now is i think the last successful rescue at the factory was what, 3 a.m.? >> around 3:30. >> it was around 3:30 a.m. >> what have you seen elsewhere in the state? >> i'm headed there next. >> what do we know about significant damage in other parts? >> so you know, first reports are a good portion of dawson springs is done. we're sending out the national guard to go door-to-door there. a county mass lost at least 10 individual there, and it wasn't hit at hard as some others. we had-- we've had damage in so many counties. at least one casualty if not more in caldwell county. we've had some in warren county. but there will be probably up to 10 counties that we lose kentuckians in. i think here hopkins hopkins an and maybe muilenburg we'll see larger numbers. >> can you tell us more about the rescues -- how many people so far have been rescued and recovered, if any. >> i think the approximate county is 40 individuals that have been rescued from that facility. there were about 110 at the time. now obviously there's some sensitivity until families know and are certain, and we still hope and pray that there's still some opportunity for others. all right. thank you all very much. thank you all. neil: all right. you have been listening to kentucky governor andy beshear who sums it up this way in remarks, that we're going to lose a lot of lives, and so far the governor said at least 70 have died in kentucky. this primary tornado that gripped mostly kentucky, four other southern states deeply affected as well was on the ground continuously over 200 miles. an unusual here. there were 14 deaths recorded in tornado related incidents. so far 2021 with the added casualties and likely to climb in the southern section of the country and this could prove to be the deadliest tornado year since 2011. the governor is already expecting a federal declaration for state emergency, that seems prefunctory now that it is inevitable and marshall the resources necessary to help the various states out. among the 70, we fear are dead in kentucky, is a student at western kentucky university set to graduate today, we're told. he died at his home off campus. we're told that 180 national guardsmen have been brought into the area and deployed and the promise of more to come and besides what's going on in kentucky, we know of three dead in tennessee, two killed at an amazon warehouse, that was directly hit in illinois. one killed and two injured in missouri. a town not that far from st. louis. and we know of power outages that are pretty much across the board, with about 100,000 without power in kentucky. 140,000 in kentucky. 23,000 in arkansas. 20,000 in illinois. 10,000 in missouri and again, no clear indications whether, you know, that this will be return anytime soon, but in all of these states, a massive events. and sometimes probably numbering the tornados, but 24 reported as our own rick reichmuth reported sometimes the same tornado is counted as it goes up and down. each time it touches down the tornado is hit so by that deechgs, we saw a couple dozen and destroyed a large swath and into the middle of the country. with us on the phone is congressman comer. as the governor outlined we're likely to get more depressing news here. the magnitude of this seems unprecedented. what can you tell us? >> it's because the tornado hit all the densely populated areas and of course, the christmas season, the candle factory and normally wouldn't be working that shift, but so many people in their homes and no warning that the areas devastated and into rural kentucky and houses flattened and cars and going to take time to account for the missing. >> can you tell us congressman, do we know how many were working at the candle factory at the time? >> there were over 100 in the factory. and this is the christmas season, it's their busiest season and they were operating three shifts, 24-7 and just a shock. i toured the factory about a year ago and looked to me like a stur bye, well-constructed a sturdy, well-constructed building and the governor indicated that it's a disaster as he sees it. do we know if federal help is on the way? >> yes, federal help is on the way. i've been in touch with fema. and got a message from the white house that the president is going to call me in a few minutes and the president is aware that the governor has spoken with the president so i think you'll see swift action on behalf of folks and federal government. and obviously we're in a rescue and recovery mode, but we also have to focus on getting power back up and water lines running and of course, sewer lines, the whole sewer treatment plant was destroyed in mayfield, and dozens and dozens of buildings and home. >> it's incredible. and we i know you have a lot on your plate. a quick update before we go to commercial break. at least 70 are feared dead in kentucky and even if that doesn't hold, it's not a matter of holding too high, it could be it's not far enough. more than 100 lost their lives, making this the worst tornado year and other states are declaring sites of emergency, five affected in arkansas, tennessee, illinois and missouri and certainly in kentucky, a reminder of the rapid nature at the worst of times this holiday season. stay with us, we'll have more after this. feel stuck with student loan debt? ♪ move your student loan debt to sofi. earn a $1,000 bonus when you refi— and feel what it's like to get your money right. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. earn a $1,000 bonus when you refi— or psoriatic 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central united states. the white house is closely monitoring the impact of severe weather. we're in such with state and local officials as search for survivors and damage assessments and will provide the government's full support as needed and states often declare in the midst of disasters state of emergency and the federal stamp aid comes quickly as soon as uncle sam does that. and we were on the phone with a congressman, at this point it's a matter of dotting the i's and crossing the t's, i'm paraphrasing. vice-president kamala harris says the second gentleman and i are praying for the families with the tornados and they're working hard with state and local officials for immediate help in the area. what's complicating in the area, in all five states affected are the massive power outages. and the numbers seem to jump. in kentucky better than 110,000 without power and 140,000 losing in tennessee. nearly 30,000 in arkansas, 25,000 in illinois, and 10,000 in missouri, although i guess dispouted reports that it's as high as 30,000 who are without power there. this represents a complicated effort, too, because in at least four of the states, they're having frigid and some parts it's down to freezing or below. we're looking at things particularly in kentucky where the governor says the count to go as high as 100 individuals. and kentucky state trooper sara burgess, how are things looking there? >> it's looking rough out here. we've got several buildings damaged, especially the candle factory as has been mentioned. we've had some nursing homes have damage and the police department and the fire department received damage to their nations, many homes. >> now, this candle factory, are your folks able to get access to it? what can you tell us? >> there are crews on scene attempting recoveries. they've been there since it happened. the collapse happened, i believe, shortly right at the time the tornado came through shortly before 10 p.m. the initial collapse and there was a secondary collapse that occurred and crews have been on the scene, attempting recovery of personnel since that happened and i believe an estimated 40 recovered at this point. and efforts are continuing for the rest. neil: so is it fair to say, trooper, that we're told that 100 were working there at the time. and that might be off by a little bit, that 40 have been recovered? >> yes, there were approximately 110 employees there at the time. 40 have been recovered alive at this time and we are still working through the rubble to recover as many as possible. neil: obviously, the devastation is enormous to your point and just getting out there has got to be tough. a lot of help seems to be coming from all areas and that's promising. for those. >> yes. >> trapped right now, what do you tell them? >> we're working on it, we're trying our hardest to get to you. we have crews working on the roadways to get where we need to be and crews searching housing and buildings for as many survivors as possible. our primary focus is preserving as many lives as possible. neil: and you're dealing with a pretty large power outage that has to complicate your efforts. >> absolutely, it is definitely a complication. per the governor's recent press conference, we were advised that fema is sending generators our way, along with several other means of assistance so we're working on that. the other issues that have come up, it's just, you know, not only getting to the folks, but dealing with this cold weather as well. there were reports, as well, i don't know how it is in your area, trooper, that more problematic weather could be on the way this weekend. from the images that i've seen the skies seemed to look pretty clear around daylight, the first sign of that in kentucky. is there anything you want to get out to folks if, you know, in the area about that? >> well, yes, we are expecting a drop in the temperature. the skies do look pretty clear at the moment, but the temperature drop tonight is going to be impactful for those who have been displaced. we're working to find shelter for everybody who has been tis placed. we have busloads of people to keep them safe as temperatures drop tonight. neil: what could folks do for you, trooper, you're inundated and kind to talk to us, to get the word out to those who might be scared in the area and might not know what to do. what kind of help do you need? >> we need number one, prayers, as many prayers as possible to lep us get through this. and we need those who are safe, to remain there, and not going through the cities or counties that have damage. let us do our work. when people start entering the areas that aren't involved in the rescue effort, it does complicate those efforts because we're not sure if they need help or not. for those that are currently safe, please remain where you are so first responders and emergency personnel can efficiently do their job as quickly as possible. neil: looking at the widespread nature of this, i'm also wondering how you address facilities? i know this candle factory. are there any other buildings, that's aside from homes that might collapse, they might have people in them. >> yes, there are numerous other buildings of the we've had two nursing homes that had damage and i'm not sure of the status of the personnel in those buildings at this time. the courthouse itself. the roof was ripped off and the clock tower gone. there are numerous homes that we've had reported damage with potentially people trapped that we're working our way to get to each of the homes that we have reports of and ensuring the safety of anybody that may be inside. was there-- i know, it's too late to go back and i know at that sirens were warning and ample, you know, concerns expressed that you could be looking at a series of tornados, were you expecting anything like this? even with the warning systems and people heard them, they were going nonstop, which is a good thing. it's the magnitude and number of the storms that i think seemed to stun people. >> yeah, i don't think you can ever expect something like this. this is worse than we've ever seen. absolutely, especially for the time of year it is, it came unexpected to us. >> we had the advanced warning, but you can never expect a catastrophe that we're seeing today. >> i wish you all the best and it's just got to be a huge task and especially now here just two weeks from christmas that something like this, but everyone seems to be pulling together and everyone is trying to right this horrific situation. trooper sara burgess, thank you very much. as we wrap up here i want to bring you up to speed on the key facts as we know them. the governor perhaps put it best in kentucky saying we are pea going to lose a lot of lives and that might end up being an understatement. at the time he made that he was declaring a state of emergency with 70 thought dead. and it could be over 100, a student set to graduate today lose his life off campus at his home. the guard deployed to the area and the governor has been fold however many he needs he will get. we also have massive power outages at the area and not just limited to kentucky, in tennessee, illinois, in missouri, in arkansas. havoc. that will do it. look, serena williams... matrix... serena... matrix... serena... matrix... ♪ get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. introducing directv stream. >> fox news alert. devastation in the wake of deadly tornados that ripped through multiple states last night from arkansas to illinois. at least 70 people are dead in kentucky alone, with that number expected to rise as the damage is assessed. welcome to fox news live i'm jacqui heinrich. griff: i'm griff jenkins. and powerful wind hitting a amazon facility in illinois and amy is kicking it off from the weather center. >> griff, let's get