beshear. he is holding his news conference. >> -- tornado event in the history of our commonwealth. our state was hit by at least four tornadoes. one stayed on the ground in kentucky for at least 200 miles, devastating anything in its path. thousands of homes are damaged, if not entirely destroyed, and it may be weeks before we have final counts on both deaths and levels of destruction. we lost lives in at least eight counties and at least 18 counties suffered damage. as soft this morning, our best count for confirmed deaths, the most accurate count we have, as of this morning, are 64 kentuckyians. remember this is fluid, and the numbers will change and sometimes, they have, thank god, gone down. other times, they've gone up. it breaks down as follows. 20 in graves, 13 in hopkins, 11 in muilenburg. i think that's been reported as 12. we believe it is 11. 12 in warren. 4 in caldwell. 1 in marshall. 1 in taylor. 1 in fulton. and one in lyon. undoubtedly, there will be more. we believe it will certainly be above 70, maybe even 80. but again, with this amount of damage and rubble, it may be a week or even more before we have a final count on the number of lost lives. currently, we believe there are at least 105 kentuckyians that are unaccounted for. that we are still working to find. currently, we have 300 national guard assisting rescue and recovery efforts. a few more than that. hundreds of state employees from transportation cabinet, the division of forestry, are clearing roads. and we saw a little light of hope yesterday in we were actually able in mayfield to get from just clearing roads to starting to haul debris away. i believe that's the same in muilenburg county, from my conversation with the judge this morning. work directly with groups to get cell service back in hopkins, marshall, and i think it's up and going in fulton county, as well, working on hickman. to recap, we have declared a state of emergency, roughly midnight, before midnight, before the storm really hit. we received immediate federal emergency declaration, i believe, on sunday, which is the fastest we've ever seen, and last night, we received a federal declaration of major emergency, i think, the fastest that has ever been issued. and we are really grateful, from fema, they are going to give us an update on what that means. but it's really good news for our families. it means fema is going to be on the ground, documenting losses at people's homes, helping them go ahead and file their claims. again, i believe this is the most rapid response by the federal government in the history of the united states of america. and we need it. and we are really grateful for it. and then, michael dossett will go over a few other things here in a minute. new pieces out today, and i have a lot of pieces of paper here, i'm going to work through them the best i can. is i'm ordering flags to half-staff in honor of those lost and those suffering from this tornado. so all state office buildings will be lowered to half-staff for one week, in honor of the kentuckyians who were killed, and/or severely impacted. so they should be lowered beginning at sunrise, tuesday, december 14th, and remain so until sundown monday, december 20th. i'm asking businesses, other states, to join us. and in the recognition of our kentuckyians, who are struggling, so badly. next update, some potential good news from the candle factory in mayfield that we are actively working to confirm this information. all of this is being reported by the business. we pray that it is true, but we are working to confirm it. so according to the business, 110 individuals, 94 are alive and have been accounted for. again, we are working to confirm that. eight are dead, we found eight bodies. and eight are missing. we feared much, much worse. and again, i pray that it is accurate. but with no phones, with 15 plus feet of wreckage that had a dozen backhoes right to pull things off of it, there was no way at the time to know how many individuals made it out. so we very much hope that that is true. we have opened up our state parks for housing, for impacted families. penny rile is already full. i think we have a hundred plus adults and a lot of kids that are out there. we're going to guarantee at least two weeks of stay. there may be other options by the end of that, but we're not going to let any of our folks go homeless. we currently have distressed families at kin lake and kentucky dam village. currently, we have some openings. i'm working with the county judge, judge perry, in gray's county, to move people from a warming center or shelter, to these rooms. we've got at least 58 rooms open at kin lake. kentucky dam village, we have 30 open. and if we can get power to lake barclay, we'll open up about 50 more. we do need a little bit of help. we need some volunteers to help us staff the state park. it will be things like washing dishes and washing clothes, but we could really use that help. so if you are looking for a place to be of assistance, you can contact director andy casset. his name is andy, at 502-418-3581. his email andy.kasitz@ky.gov. i hope he's flooded with calls and e-mails, and we can put as many people to work helping our people out as possible. just a few more facts about those that we've lost. 18 are still unidentified. of the ones that we know, the age range is 5 months to 86 years and six are younger than 18. help keeps pouring in from all over the country. thank you to everyone. we feel your love here in kentucky. the team kentucky, team western kentucky tornado relief fund 31,279 donations, over $4 million raised into it thus far. do we have the website? those that would like to help us, that's teamwkyrelieffund.ky.gov. this is a fund associated with the state. it's going to be fully transparent on how it is spent. there will be no administrative fees taken out of it. all of is it going to go to help these families. today, we're announcing the first expenditure from that. we are going to be providing $5,000 in burial expenses for each family that has lost a loved one. we are going to ask funeral home or group helping out to not charge the families beyond that $5,000. we at least have to be able to grieve together. and no one is going to have to apply. we're going to work with our vital statistics group, for everyone who has been identified, and we're going to work to reach out and contact those families directly. right now, we think we have about 30,000 kentucky homes that are without power. significant debris removal going on right now. but there is just a mountain of waste. it is going to take a significant amount of time. we've got significant livestock dead in all of the areas. there's ongoing cleanup with that, too. department for community-based services in mayfield suffered damage. cannot serve the public at this time. a mobile unit is in process to get down there, so it can provide those continuing needed services. those that have needs for the department for community-based services can call 1-855-306-8959. or applying for help online through the connect site. walgreens in mayfield is the only pharmacy that has been open. starting today, walmart plans to open for prescription fulfillment. this is in mayfield. if you need a refill, it would help if you can bring your medication bottles. but the pharmacy recognized that you probably don't have them. so if you have a list of your medications, that would be helpful, too. mayfield nursing and rehab has been closed due to storm damage and will need to rebuild. all residents have been relocated. kentucky state police is asking, especially in the gray's county area for any family members of missing loved ones, you should report to the office building of his house ministries to provide a reference to standard -- a reference standard to law enforcement for identification purposes. it's located at 1250 ky 303 in mayfield. anybody who needs assistance in getting there, call 859-267-7775. kentucky state police is also using rapid dna technology to assist in the identification of victims, so they're requesting any family members of missing loved ones to come to that same building to submit dna so that they can match. kentucky state police is also working to verify the information on the candle factory. i know like the folks in western kentucky, i'm not doing so well today, and i'm not sure how many of us are. i was working on getting the confirmed deaths this morning and realized i was writing on the back of notes that one of my kids took from school. and here's what it is. it's notes on inertia. it means that an object that's in motion will stay in motion. so we're going to keep putting one foot in front of the other and push through this. everybody out there, get the help you need. take care of yourself and we'll continue to provide updates. to the people of western kentucky, we're not going anywhere. we're going to be with you today, we're going to be with you tomorrow, and we're going to be there with you to rebuild. this is one state of people that love one another. and i think everybody in kentucky, but also everybody in the country is standing with you. and with that, i'll turn it over to director dossett. >> thank you, governor, and good morning. so i'm going to give you an overall update of operations. the state eoc is in operation at level 3. we have an extraordinary complement of state and federal personnel, probably numbering 80 to 100 right now. these folks will be on duty each day and every day, including the weekends, to answer the requests from our counties and to render assistance. so we have representatives from the kentucky transportation cabinet, the national guard, forestry, law enforcement, energy sector, sheltering, volunteer organizations, parks, red cross, we've established an aircraft command and control section for overflights to survey the damage. so now i'll go into some of the power numbers. and the governor, there's been some good news within the last ten minutes, the numbers dropped again. we are literally at 28,000 -- i'm sorry, 28,531 outages as of this moment. this is a remarkable outcome when you look at the damage that has been impacted across our commonwealth. so approximately 95% of potentially impacted power lines have been assessed. that's a big thing. in most of these events, the power companies can't get to the lines even to perform the assessments. so 95% have been completed. there's some bad news with the good news. there are still 29 transmission lines. these are the lines that feed from the power plants. if you recall in the ice storm, you saw collapse of these massive towers that run across our state. we have had that. and the restoration will be weeks to months for these. so we'll have a small number that feed off of these transmission lines that are still out. we have at least 97 power structures damaged. several local companies have extensive damage to their own distribution systems, and they're underway, certainly. mutual aid crews from across other states are arriving daily. we have -- and this is just an estimate of three companies. and we have a number of them and i'll go through them. we have 8,000 power poles -- these are the ones in your neighborhood, that are down. they have to be dug, replaced, wires strung, so it's a massive effort. eight of the most impacted local power companies, west kentucky, rural electric cooperative, lexington electric, nashville electric, memphis light, gas, and water, warren rural electric, murray electric, bowling green municipality, and mayfield electric. so we have water systems also impacted. three systems currently not operational with 10,400 customers. 11 systems currently with limited operational capabilities for about 17,000 customers. these are boil water advisories. we're certainly familiar with those and other impacts. the division continues to coordinate with all municipal utilities. we are delivering generators as we speak. we -- our regional administer her speak to some of the generation opportunities and things we're bringing over in a second. in graves, in mayfield, they're experiencing overlow in some circuits and that is to be expected, because of the level of power that they're trying to restore. generators arrived at mills nursing and rehabilitation this morning and they've restored heat. we're coordinating with fema, the u.s. corps of engineers, and department of public health to provide water. certainly, water is in high demand in mayfield and in other communities. we are bulk drop shipping bottled water to command centers across the state in the impact area. we have requested and received, and again folks, i can't stress the amount of federal support that came so quickly. i can tell you from being a veteran of 17 disasters, it takes time to get wheels rolling. we had search and rescue teams on the ground before i had finished submitting the request. overnight, three more teams were approved. we're doing the known impact, and now we have to search all of the debris areas. before elements of those teams arrived last night, when they were requested yesterday. so folks pulling out all the stops. in hopkins, we're assisting providing generation to dawson school. that's a key issue. that was assessed last night and we'll something on the way. in dawson's spring, obviously, electric still down and water is being reestablished. verizon also set some mobile cellular units in place last night. so with that, restoration is ongoing. this, again, is not going to be a week or a month operation. this will go on for for years to come. this is a massive event. the largest and most devastating in kentucky's history. and i'll close with saying that the key is that our hearts and prayers go out to all of the victims and the families and the families of those that are still missing. this is a horrific event and prayers will help. now i'll introduce gresia shrek, along with alejandro mayorkas. it's always a challenge to pronounce the secretary's name. and also, gresia's immediate boss, the fema administrator, dan chris well. these were remarkable folks. i spent the day with them. the governor was with them. they get it and they care. and gresia in syncing with 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. 64 kentuckyians having confirmed having lost their lives. others unaccounted for. and the ages of those who have lost their lives from 5 months old to 86 years old. with me now here in mayfield, nbc news senior national correspondent, tom llamas. tom, thanks for being with me. how do we explain what we're seeing here? it's just tough. >> it's tough and it's incredible that anyone survived. you mentioned the death toll there, and it's rising and it's horrific, but when you look around here, it's 360 degrees. we've covered a lot of natural disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes together. tornadoes sometimes carve a path and some people are spared, and that happened in different states, in different towns. in mayfield where we are, that didn't happen. the entire town is gone. you can see three blocks behind us, and you don't see a single building that is structurally sound. everything has been destroyed. that building over there is the church, but the entire front facade is gone. the bank withstood -- the bank administrative building is over here. i was speaking to one of the administrator and i asked him, what are people going to do here? he said, we're going build back. and i said, but there's nothing left. he said, we'll start over. this town has been here for 200 years. in 2021, they're now going to start over. my heart goes out to all the people here. the heart in kentucky will have to open up their homes, two weeks before christmas, there's nowhere to live here. i know the shelters are open and the shelters are working and president biden has phoned the governor a lot providing help and promising help. we'll see what happens. >> officials are saying there has been an extraordinary level of communication and support by officials here in kentucky and the white house as well as in illinois and the other states that have been affected. but this is ground zero. so many times, situations like this, we say, it looks like a bomb went off. it looks like this area was carpet bombed. it's not just one, it's just long and long and continuing. and to think that there were tornadoes that went for 200 miles. >> it's like mother nature went nuclear here in this area. and 200 miles, we say that, but think about that, that's new york to d.c., dallas to houston. that's a long runway of destruction. and i got to tour some of the neighborhoods here and see the homes where families lived. i can't imagine what children were like, hearing these noises, their parents trying to protect them, and the parents themselves realizing there's nothing that you can do. in this type of situation, you're reminded, there's nothing you can do. >> tom llamas, thank you. these are such difficult circumstances. our hearts go out to all the people that you're mentioning that have been so affected by this devastating storm. thank you, tom, for being with me. another community hit and hit hard by the big twister is the college town of bowling green, kentucky. homes and businesses have been damaged, destroyed, and officials say at least 11 people are dead. that's where we find nbc news correspondent dasha burns. what's the situation where you're at? >> reporter: jose, good morning. what i'm seeing here is pretty similar to what you're seeing over in mayfield. here in bowling green, 11 people have died in this city. 12 in this county, warren county. at least 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed like this one here. this is the home of bob newman. he has lived here for more than 50 years. he was sitting in this living room here when the tornado hit and he hid in that doorway, that one wall that's still sounding, that's structurally sound enough to keep him alive. amazingly, he's alive and well, just a couple of scratches. but jose, i'll have you follow me here. my cameraman, david, is going to take you with me. we have to walk kind of slowly here, because there is still so much debris. and that's one of the striking things for residents, as the sun comes up each morning, thinking about the daunting task of clearing all of this up. of trying to figure out how to move on. you see back here, where you see the couches and the chair there, that used to be a garage. it belonged to nurmina, she's a mother of two, completely torn off. and jose, as you look around here, one thing that residents keep telling me is, this place is completely unrecognizable. and the folks that were here, that experienced this tornado say, you know, it really only lasted a couple of minutes, maybe. those minutes felt like an eternity, of course. but look at this! think about what this kind of force did in just a couple of minutes. towns, communities, neighborhoods, destroyed. and what happened in a couple of minutes is now going to take weeks, months, years to build back. i want you to hear from steve newman. he's actually the son of bob newman, whose home i just showed you there. that was his childhood home, where he grew up. take a listen to how he describes coming back to this neighborhood and seeing the devastation. >> you see all the debris, it looks like a destruction zone, war zone. and all of that is, you know, is really blows your mind. because we used to seeing trees and bushes and plants and stuff that had been here for a long time. and those are just obliterated. . and all the debris, wood, buildings, roofs displaced and they're just all over the place. >> reporter: you know, jose, he told me that when he first walked into that home and saw the destruction, all of the memories of his childhood came flooding back and he was heartbroken, but then he started to look around. he saw the debris, he saw the bricks, he saw the insulation, the wires, and he thought, you know what, these are all just material things. all of that can be replaced. what can't be realized is a life. and his father, thankfully, is okay and that's what they're focusing on this morning, jose. >> dasha burns in bowling green, thank you so much. and with me now is tyler goodwin, county commissioner here in graves county which represents the mayfield area. commissioner, thank you for being with me. it's such a difficult time. i just -- just the level of devastation, commissioner, how do you process that? >> i don't think you can right now. i think it takes time. you know, the initial reaction was disbelief. you know, we knew the hurricane -- hurricane? we knew the tornado was coming through. we were able to be prepared, but when you see it, see the damage, see the people that have been displaced and lives lost, i don't think you can process it. >> so where -- i mean, just tell us where we are. because this is just mountains and mountains and mountains of debris, but this was offices and restaurants and people's places of work and of worship. >> sure, yeah. you've got buildings that have been here over a hundred years, and they've withstood storms and time and everything else. what was this right here? >> this was an office building. this housed a customer service. >> show me a little bit around here. and commissioner, so mayfield is about 10,000 people, the county you represent, 38,000 people. >> that's correct, that's correct. >> what -- i mean, this is just difficult to explain. what was this? >> this was a restaurant, this was a steakhouse restaurant, that, you know, a historical building. you've got the post office next door to it. you've got church buildings, you've got office space, you've got apartments. >> those apartments over there held up pretty well, but part of the roof is gone, and to the right, it's -- it's almost as if this tornado, this series of tornadoes, you know, it -- it just hit and went, hit and went, hit and went. but for the most part, it also had this swath of complete destruction. it's amazing, commissioner, you live just about a mile and a half from here. >> correct, yes. >> you have a newborn, very young daughter. how did you ride that out? >> well, we have a basement. we went in our basement, my wife's parents came over, we sheltered with us, and we could hear it coming through, and we were lucky. our hearts and prayers go out to the people that were displaced and had everything taken away from them or, you know, lost loved ones, but at the time, you're just hoping and praying us that it misses us and it didn't miss our town. >> what do y'all need now? the outpouring of support has been tremendous. we have had people contact us from local areas and different states. arkansas, pennsylvania, tennessee, virginia, bringing in generators, fuel, water, clothes -- >> let's come back here. is there anything that we could all do, as we try and see how we can help? >> i mean, thoughts, prayers, we have donations site set up, we have websites, we have -- the state has been great. the federal government's outreach has been great, just to continue, in the days ahead, maybe not immediately, but down the road. >> the governor was saying that this could be weeks, months, and for many people, maybe even years. commissioner, thank you for being with me. >> hey, thank you. >> this is a very difficult time. you know, there were more than 100 workers who were inside mayfield's candle factory on the overnight shift when the tornado hit. the twister tore through the building, i mean, literally, causing it to collapse. andrea was one of those workers trapped under the rubble for two excruciating hours. she started a facebook live, seen here capturing the ordeal. eight of her colleagues confirmed dead. another eight still unaccounted for. andrea miranda joins me now. andrea, thank you for being with me. what happened? how can you describe what you lived through that night. >> hi, jose. this is actually a really bad experience. what i remember is wherever they move us to the area near to the bathroom, we just wait no more than five minutes and what i remember is when the building moved left, right, and boom. that's what i heard. and i had some coworkers next to me. he was my friend, kyanna, and my supervisor, that i hug her and the whole entire wall fell on top of us, make us unable to move. i was stuck there for two hours, unable to breathe. i thought i was going to die. it was horrible, horrible, yelling, help, help, help, help. and as soon as nobody helping, it was horrible. a lot of debris on top of us. around five feet. by having all of those grease on top of us, it was horrible. it was really, really -- i'm glad that i'm alive. it was something that i haven't been able to even sleep. just thinking what i'm going to do now, everything is leveled. i've got no job, no car, no way to replace it. i don't know what to do now. it's been a rough day, really. >> andrea, it's -- i just want you to know that my heart is with you now and so many people are feeling your pain and our solidarity with you. it's just so difficult, andrea, to think what you're saying. i mean, everything in your life came to a halt. how -- how -- what do you need? how can we help you? >> the only thing i really have been working for is for my car and my house. it was the only thing i have. i moved from puerto rico to kentucky. even the candle factory, they brought me here two years ago. and now everything is gone. everything is gone. my car so i can get another job, move to another place. a place to stay. everything is gone. my family is in puerto rico and i came here at 19 years, i'm 21, and i have been working so hard, and now everything is gone. i don't know -- i don't know what to do. i don't know what to do. >> andrea, you're -- you can always continue, start again. [ speaking spanish ] you are an amazing person and where there is life, there is hope. and know that there are a lot of people that are looking to help you and others. andrea, it's -- it's really important to say that there are so many latinos here in kentucky. >> yes. >> from puerto rico, from guatemala, from honduras, from mexico, from the dominican republic, and they have been working here and they have been participating and supporting this economy and many of them don't see how they can turn to get some help. there are so many people that, there is -- there are tobacco fields here, construction, the factory. do you have any support here? do you have a circle of close friends? >> no. the only friends they had, they just tell me that she die in the candle factory. her name was janine. and all the people that i rely on, they're basically dead or they lost everything too. my family is in puerto rico. i'm not able to leave the state. and like i said, i don't see myself holding up no more longer, because everything that i had worked these two years is gone, it's gone. i don't got no way to support myself right now, honestly. >> andrea, don't lose hope. [ speaking spanish ] you have to keep going. andrea, thank you. >> thank you. >> we'll keep in close touch with you. thank you so much. >> i appreciate that. >> thank you. our special coverage of the deadly tornadoes continues. up next, we'll go live to illinois, where at least six people were killed in that amazon warehouse. i understand that the governor has just said that the president, president biden, has expressed that he wants to and will come to this area in the near future. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. this -- this is true life. s tru. instantly clear everyday congestion with vicks sinex saline. for fast drug free relief vicks sinex. instantly clear everyday congestion. and try vicks sinex children's saline. safe and gentle relief for children's noses. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. or psoriatic arthritis. but we are so much more. we're team players and artists. designers and do-it-yourselfers. parents and friends. if joint pain is getting in the way of who you are, it's time to talk to your doctor about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self. play ball! enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. visit enbrel.com to see how your joint damage could progress. enbrel. eligible patients may pay as little as $5 per month. ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪ you're never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your discover card. 40 past the hour. i'm in mayfield, kentucky, an area devastated by this weekend's tornadoes. another hard-hit community is edwardsville, illinois, where that amazon warehouse was crumbled to pieces when it was slammed by a tornado. at least six workers were killed, an unknown number are missing. joining me now is nbc's morgan chesky, live in edwardsville. morgan, what's the latest on the ground there this morning? >> reporter: hi, jose, good morning. i just had a chance to speak with an amazon spokesperson, who tells me that they now know that at the time this tornado struck, there were 46 workers inside this massive warehouse, about the size of a football field. as you mentioned, that death toll now sitting at six people. and they say that everyone else at this point in time is believed to have been accounted for. they do not anticipate the death toll rising here in edwardsville, but we are learning more about the moments prior to this tornado striking that's now been categorized as an ef-3. an incredibly powerful storm striking under the cover of nightfall. the tornado sirens here in edwardsville went off at about 8:00 p.m. on friday. it was at that point that amazon tells us that the employees inside that building eventually split up into about two groups, going to various areas that they believed were sheltered, secured, reinforced spots within this building that they could be safe. and when that tornado struck, as you've seen, in these images and videos of this warehouse, it essentially sheared off the entire southern side of this building. and it was on the southern side that we know one group of workers had gathered. amongst them, a 29-year-old named clayton cope. i spoke with his mother yesterday. jose, she told me that her son followed in his father's footsteps, having the same exact job here at this facility, but they worked in opposite shifts. meaning, if her son hadn't been working there that night, it would have been her husband, and she thinks about that each and every day that now passes since losing the 29-year-old, who was a navy vet. she called him about a half hour before this tornado struck, told him, make sure you seek shelter. he says, i'm going to make sure i help others get to safety in the meantime. and she says that it gives her a little solace knowing that he relied on that training to help others first in those final moments. as it stands right now, crews are still going through the debris here. there's no definitive timetable on when this area will be deemed clear. however, amazon has donated $1 million to a local charity here in edwardsville to help anyone impacted by this incredibly tragic storm. jose? >> morgan chesky, thank you so much. just a little while ago, i spoke with luis tekum whose best friend and business partner opened a bodega just five months. this weekend, his friend rode out the tornado with his wife, two children, and brother. they all survived. luis says, thanks to the grace of god. this is where he rode out the storm? [ speaking spanish ] >> this is the entrance of the store. this is where they had their store and the merchandise. this is the place that saved five people's lives, right here. two children -- three adults and two children. this is how they survived. right here. right here. saved their lives. this is where five human beings survived the deadly tornadoes. and that bodega that opened just five months ago with that family's life savings, obliterated. luis says that he actually went to atlanta just this last week to get merchandise to help that friend increase the bodega's merchandise. it's all gone. as people here in kentucky face the immediate crisis of trying to recover from the tornado's devastation, a new wave of covid cases is putting resources under strain. right now, the overwhelming majority of counties across the state are reporting a high level of transmission, as cases have risen by more than 84% over the last two weeks. take a look at that map. joining me now is dr. brad houseman, the vice president and chief medical officer for baptist health paducah in kentucky. doctor, thank you for being with me. what can you tell us about the conditions right now following this past weekend's storms? >> thank you for having me. certainly, it's been a very trying weekend for folks here in this area and the surrounding communities. and just can't thank everyone enough for all of the outpouring of support and prayers and donations for those in need here in western kentucky. >> as the storms came through, your state is facing a new uptick in cases. how has that impacted how your teams are able to treat everyone who needs care? >> thankfully, the number of casualties that we had to treat here at the hospital were low, as you mentioned, covid cases are on the rise throughout the state, throughout our community. we're seeing our in-patient numbers unfortunately creep back up again. and so it is a very busy time here at the hospital, but thus far, we have able to manage and continue to provide services, both to folks here in paducah and throughout the region. >> dr. brian houseman, thank you very much for being with me this morning. appreciate your time. friday night's storm produced a series of tornadoes across at least five states. so in the course of a few hours, one twister alone ripped through 200 miles of kentucky. i want to bring in al roker, co-host of the "today" show. al, thank for being with me. exactly how unprecedented is this weather event? >> well, i'll tell you, jose. if this turns out, especially that one where you are, turns out to be a category 4 tornado, this would be really unprecedented. probably since 1957 since we've seen something like this in the country for a december. but this was a recipe for disaster. we had april-like temperatures friday afternoon, record highs into the 70s and 80s. and in fact, those temperatures were anywhere from 20 to 30 degrees in that area. the record warmth, the main ingredient for this outbreak. and so as the day progressed, we saw these tornadoes developing. here's the other thing we have to keep an eye out now. tornado alley seems to be shifting east. it had predominantly been throughout the central plains, but that's on a downward trend. and the upward trend is in more populous areas moving east from the gulf, all the way into the midwest. so we're talking that, and we're also looking at winter warming. the most pronounced warming is in the mississippi valley to the northeast. right where those tornadoes hit. and a warmer, warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. and so these storms were really juiced up. so this evolving research shows increased warmth may produce more severe weather during the winter than what we've been seeing. and again, the other big problem with this, these were nighttime tornadoes. this was our biggest fear. because at night, those nighttime tornadoes are twice as likely to create fatalities at night, and so what we look at, many people are asleep, unaware of the warnings and the tornadoes are difficult to see. if this happens again, there are ways to have a warning wake you up. if you have an iphone, ipad, go to settings and government alerts. an android phone, advanced settings and emergency alerts. you can download a red cross tornado app. you get it from your app store. but jose, this was unprecedented. unfortunately c we have a feeling that this is not going to be the last of what we see. in fact, that area is going to see that where you are right now, probably going to see record warmth again by wednesday. we're not expecting any storms, but this is the problem. warmer than usual temperatures that are becoming more and more common as our climate warms. jose? >> yeah. al, i was just wondering while i have you, meteorologists were telling us yesterday that it's going to start getting warmer -- i mean, today, since the sun has been up, it's warmer than yesterday. and yet, they're talking about maybe rains in the next couple of days. you know, what happened over the weekend, should we be fearing that something like that could possibly hit this area again? >> i think it will just add to the misery that's there, but i don't think -- you may see some thunderstorms, but right now, jose, we don't see anything like what we just saw. and as a matter of fact, the paducah, kentucky national weather service has called in for structural engineers, and that kind of hints they may think this had been a high category 4 twister or maybe a low 5. so either way, the devastation as you've been showing us, is just unimaginable. and our hearts and prayers go out to everybody in those communities across those six states. >> they really do. al roker, it's -- i really appreciate your time. thanks for being with me this morning. a crucial part of the mayfield, kentucky community was severely damaged by the deadly tornadoes. next, i'll talk to the director of a women and children's shelter about how their residents survived. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." art report. who's on it with jardiance? 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>> well, we were in communication during the tornado and right before it hit. throughout the day we knew it was coming, and so the ladies, we all made a plan, and we just knew where they would go in case the tornado got really bad. about 9:20, i knew it was headed their way. i'm about 10 minutes from the lighthouse. sorry. seeing these pictures make me very emotional. i was about ten minutes away from the lighthouse. i told them duck and cover. go to your safe place, and so they went to our conference room, and they got underneath a very large table, and something in their spirit wasn't settling right that they needed to stay in the conference room, so they left and went to a bedroom and a bathroom, and the conference room was demolished. we got there the next day and saw it was completely gone. so god protected them during the storm, and then we realized they had gone to a bedroom and a bathroom. all the ladies, six, seven were in one bedroom, bathroom, and another were in another bathroom. neither one of those rooms were touched. every window was broken out in the house. you see the damage to the house in the pictures, but every room was damaged except the two they were in. that is good god al mighty himself protecting them. he was in that room with them. that's my office in one of the pictures. the only thing left standing in the office was a cross. god is in the middle of this. >> it says a lot, jodie. it says a lot. >> he's taking care of us. yeah. >> how do you go forward? what happens with the people you're serving at least for the time being? >> well, we -- i'm at a church now. we got as much supplies out as we could. the community -- we get that. and -- >> yeah. >> able. my two -- those are the other two -- supply -- we're at a church now and that's our makeshift area. we've got the -- >> jodie, i want to apologize to you. i'm losing you. we're losing your signal, jodie. i want to apologize to you. i have to tell you folks, the communications here are very, very sketchy. it's really extraordinary that we were able to have jodie with us. you know, it's tough to find a phone line now. everything is being utilized. you know what? there is this extraordinary spirit of solidarity, and jodie, thank you for being with me. as i look around here at what was this bustling downtown of an extraordinarily beautiful and historic city, much of it in ruins, and yet, people say they will rebuild. it's important that we all do what we can to help these people. there are so many people here who just want to rebuild. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. chris jansing picks up with more news right now. >> our thanks to jose for his reporting on the ground. good morning, i am chris jansing in for craig melvin. an already weary nation tired from this pandemic, from polarization, and growing economicre

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