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Destroyed buildings in Mayfield, Kentucky
Photo: ADDISON LEBOUTILLIER / EPA
Nine days after a tornado destroyed a three-story office building in downtown Mayfield, Kentucky, a man believed he heard a faint meow.
A little later he and other helpers found a cat among the rubble.
"If cats actually have nine lives, it has probably used eight of them in nine days," said the finder.
The animal was very hungry and thirsty, but otherwise unharmed.
The tornadoes wreaked havoc in Kentucky and other US states.
At least 74 people were killed and more than 100 more are still missing.
The storms left a swath of devastation in Kentucky for 200 miles.
“Houses, shops, government buildings - just go away.
Parts of industrial plants, roofs are in trees.
It's hard to imagine that that's even possible, ”said Governor Andy Beshear.
"I believe this will be the deadliest tornado to ever hit Kentucky."
Candle factory completely destroyed - Amazon center affected
Mayfield had been particularly affected.
Among other things, the tornadoes turned a candle factory in the city into a field of rubble - because of the hustle and bustle at Christmas time, work had also been carried out at night.
Only 40 of the 110 or so people in the factory were saved, Beshear said.
Where the factory once stood is now a field of rubble more than four meters high with scrap metal and wrecked cars, according to the governor.
The storm system also killed several people in other states.
CNN reported a total of more than 30 tornadoes in Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Tennessee.
In Illinois, the roof of a distribution center of the online retailer Amazon partially collapsed.
Six people died there, 45 people were rescued from the rubble, according to the fire department.
kfr / jok / AP