Stay updated with breaking news from I 55. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
the damage. it spans a good number of miles. so it s a lot of ground to cover. but i did do an aerial survey yesterday, and i could tell you that the track is continuous from south of casey in fulton county all the way to at least beaver dam when we finally turned around. so the damage that we have surveyed so far indicates that the rating is at least an ef3. however, we have experts who are on the surveys right now, and also experts within the national weather service that are looking at the data and will be looking at possibly upgrading that rating as well. on behalf of the national weather service, our hearts go out to each and every person that has been affected by this tornado. and that affects us locally and across the entire weather service where we ve had numerous people come to us and say how deeply sorry for everything that s happened here. but as we get more information, we will definitely release that to you. we have lots of surveys to continue to do over th ....
local family-owned manufacturer of candles. but, boris, as you re saying, we re still waiting to hear. now, we are seeing daylight out. we know that rescue teams are on the ground right now. they re not only assessing the damage, but they re trying to see if there s anyone inside who may need help. and right now, amara, we want to get to someone on the scene. michael gordon, he is a storm chaser who is in mayfield right now. he s at that candle factory where search and rescue operations are under way. and as we look behind you, michael, it looks like an enormous debris field that is several feet high and maybe a couple hundred yards wide. what are you seeing there right now. yeah, i believe i think there s upwards of 12 probably 12 feast debris, and, yes, it spans the full length of that factory, which i don t know exactly how long it is, but, yeah, it s just a pile of rubble. everything i mean, every corner of the yard even, surrounding this factory, has debr ....
underway right now. in arkansas a tornado decimated a firsting home. in kentucky, the governor issues a state of emergency. we re seeing things we have never seen before. the damage is indescribable. it s changing the landscape of the city we know here in mayfield. president biden was briefed on the destruction, calling it an unimaginable tragedy and pledged full support for governors dealing with the disaster. allison chinchar is tracking the ongoing stores. first, to you, nadia, where we see things just flattened behind you, the destruction, tell us how people are coping. yesterday, summer-like temperatures, now it feels like december, winter-like weather. today, yesterday this building behind me up and running. overnight working on overtime. they were trying to get prepared for the christmas holiday that s just two weeks away. many more people in some 100 inside this candle factory. you really can t see anything but rubble and debris. one man described it to ....
crews saved one woman overnight after she sent out a desperate call for help on facebook live. we are trapped. please, y all, give us some help. we re at the candle factory in mayfield. please. please. y all! y all, please, send us some help. somebody, please send us some help. we are trapped. the wall is stuck on me. nobody can get to us. y all, please, we can t move. adrina, calm down. please, y all. pray for us. just get somebody to come and help us. that s mayfield, kentucky, which we ll get back to in a minute, but there s also edwardsville, illinois, where rescuers are searching for workers at an amazon warehouse. in arkansas, 20 people were pulled free after the storm hit a nursing home. a resident there died. at least one long track tornado traveled as much as more than 200 miles. across multiple states, according to the national weather service. this video shows a tornado that appears to have touched down on that same path. now, federal resources are headin ....
here s a look at where the governor is talking about, mayfield kentucky in the western part of the state. it s got a population of about 10,000 people. the governor believes 50 people are dead. that number could rise between 70 and 100 statewide. that candle factory, 110 people were inside at the time it was hit. many people no doubt working the second shift. the governor believes dozens could have perished in that building alone. take a look at what this tornado did to the area here, we see cars mangled, just tossed around here, picked up by those strong winds and flung. other cars you see they are really just completely together in a mangled pile of metal, hard to even see exactly what we re looking at here. one of the things that made the storm so dangerous is that the tornados hit when it was dark out. and the governor says people were given advanced warning but also called this a storm unlike anything they ve ever seen. unfortunately, it wasn t just kentucky. tak ....