50 dead at least in Kentucky storms, could rise to 100

Bill Masen - December 11, 2021

https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/at-least-50-dead-after-most-severe-tornado-event-in-kentuckys-history-governor-says

Least 50,000 homes also without power

UNBELIEVABLE

The primary tornado was on the ground continuously for over 200 miles in the state. 

“Something we have never seen before,” Beshear said.

According to the governor, Graves County appears to be hit the hardest — which is where the city of Mayfield was destroyed. 

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“A roof collapse at a candle factory has resulted in mass casualties,” Beshear said.

As a 4:45 a.m. Eastern, 56,854 Kentuckians were without power.

Beshear issued a state of emergency just before midnight Saturday and has activated the National Guard. The state is deploying 181 guardsmen, including search and rescue and debris clearance teams.

“The Transportation Cabinet has mobilized its heavy equipment to help clear debris. They’ll be assisted by the Guard and the Division of Forestry,” Beshear said.

Counties with likely damage and debris as of 4 a.m. local time include Fulton, Hickman, Graves, Marshall, Lyon, Caldwell, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Breckenridge, Bullit, Spencer, Shelby, Christian, Logan, Warren, Edmondson, Taylor and Marion counties. 

 

FAST FACTS:
One person killed among catastrophic damage reported at Arkansas nursing home
3 people confirmed dead in Tennessee storms
KY Gov. tells Louisville TV station that 50 people could be dead
1 killed, 2 injured as tornado strikes St. Charles County, Missouri
Significant damage reported in Bowling Green, Kentucky
Workers reported trapped in Candle Factory among widespread damage in Mayfield, Kentucky
Amazon warehouse collapsed in SW Illinois leaving 50-100 workers trapped
Tornado Warnings issued in Nashville
132 Tornado Warnings issued so far Friday night

 

According to the FOX Weather team, a majority of the most intense tornadoes were produced by a single supercell that tracked over 350 miles and 4 states. The storm initially developed around Little Rock and made its way into Kentucky.

Tornado on the ground for over 200 miles, Good grief.

 

The local Memphis news tracked that tornado all night.  They didn’t ever go to regular programing.  I watched it nonstop until I went to bed.  The tornado fired up around 5:30 pm outside of Little Rock, AR and they tracked it until it went into the Missouri bootheel and Kentucky.  They were seeing colors and other indicators on their radar that they had never seen before.  At some points, there was no color inside the storm.  They stated the radar was having trouble as the storm was so strong.

We just had a couple of lines of very intense rain & wind.  The wind snapped one of my trees, down in the pasture & pulled up some of our Christmas decorations.

 

That sounds ” expletive deleted” Terrifying. I saw occasional news from the US overnight online, and many of the TV weather experts looked totally baffled and more than a little worried. I’m no expert but got the impression these weather folks were experiencing something both new and very unwelcome.  Just like our weather people were looking a bit frazzled at storm Arwen coming in from the north at 95MPH.

 

I was a bit worried around 3:00 this morning when the first storms hit.  The wind was just blasting the side of the house and the rain coming down in solid sheets.  I can’t imagine being in the path of that tornado & knowing it was coming.  I don’t understand why the Amazon facility & that candle factory didn’t evacuate.  Anyone watching the news knew what was coming & where it was going.

Yes, these experienced weathermen were seeing things they had never seen before.  Many times they exclaimed with amazement at what the radar was picking up… including clouds of debris 20,000 feet in the air.  As I stated above, even the radar was having issues with the storm.  I guess they will need to work on its software to handle storms of that magnitude.

 

  Radar image of debris over 30,000 feet in the air.

 

Hope that is a rare occurance, i would not want to be in an aircraft   going one way and meeting a piece of tree going the other way.

 

Mayfield Kentucky after the tornado from awfuleverything