through eight states. entire towns leveled in the blink of an eye is a the storm swept through friday night. officials say one single tornado actually carved a path of destruction more than 200 miles long and they fear more than 80 people may have been killed. search-and-rescue teams are working around the clock for survivors who may be trapped under mountains of debris. the heads of homeland security and fema are in the region today bringing with them much-needed federal resources. mayfield, kentucky is seeing some of the worst of the damage. a few buildings left standing in the town of roughly 10,000. rescuers sifting through a collapsed candle factory there where more than 100 people were working and so far only about 40 people have been rescued from the wreckage. and new video shows what s left of an amazon warehouse in edwardsville, illinois. at least six people died when the building collapsed during a violent tornado there: people are considered dead and the scale of d
i think it s going to be the longest and deadliest tornado event in u.s. history. i ve got towns that are gone, that are just i mean, gone. you think you d go door to door to check on people and see if there are okay. there are no doors. the question is, is somebody in the rubble of thousands upon thousands of structures? i mean, it is devastating. words can hardly describe some of the pictures we ve seen. at any moment we are expecting another update from the governor along with local, state, and federal officials. my colleague boris sanchez is on the ground in mayfield, kentucky, helping to cover this story from every angle. reporter: thanks, phil. and you re absolutely right. you are at a loss for words looking at the magnitude of destruction across eight states. it s difficult to fathom when you see the power of mother nature to wreak havoc and to erase entire communities from the map. in dawson springs, kentucky, the list of missing people is now eight pages long
2021 hero of the year. the 15th annual cnn heroes all-star tribute tonight at 8:00 eastern. it s going to be a great show, and it s going to be a tear-jerker. but you will be inspired. it begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. all right. thank you so much for joining me today. i m fredricka whitfield. the cnn newsroom continues with phil mattingly right now. you are live in the cnn newsroom. i m phil mattingly. jim acosta is off today. we begin this hour with a race against time. rescuers are digging through rubble with machines and by hand searching for signs of life after catastrophic tornados ripped through eight states, leaving communities in shambles. more than 80 people including children are feared dead. most of them in kentucky where the governor of the commonwealth expects the death toll will surpass 100.