By Chantal Da Silva -
NBC News
Rescue teams were still searching for survivors Monday after deadly tornadoes tore through Kentucky and neighboring states over the weekend, decimating entire towns and killing dozens.
The series of non-seasonal storms ripped through multiple Midwestern and Southern states overnight Friday, wiping out a candle factory and entire communities in Kentucky, while also hitting an Arkansas nursing home and an Amazon distribution center in Illinois.
The latest death toll from the devastating tornadoes stood at
nearly 50 as of early Monday,
according to a tally by NBC News.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for Kentucky, providing federal aid to residents of at least eight counties after the storm destroyed homes and left thousands without power.
["I can't believe I'm here," says a survivor of a tornado-ravaged candle factory in Kentucky]
Officials were having difficulty counting the dead because of the
"level of devastation"
in the area, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said late Sunday at a late-night news conference.
Dozens of families were in mourning, including the Governor of Kentucky, who confirmed that he, too, had lost loved ones in the storm.
Darlene Easterwood and Tim Evans embrace after participating in an outdoor Sunday service with members of the First Christian Church and First Presbyterian Church following a tornado in Mayfield, Kentucky, on December 12, 2021.ADREES LATIF / REUTERS
Many others were still waiting to know if their family members had survived, and the irregular mobile phone service in the affected areas made it even more difficult to determine who was still missing.
"I'm so sorry," Beshear said to those who were still searching for answers.
“People like that are not supposed to be lost.
Not knowing and not having the information has to make it much more difficult ”, he lamented.
The death toll could rise to 100
By early Monday,
at least 35 people
had been confirmed
dead in Kentucky
after the storm, according to an NBC News tally.
At least two dead and five injured in Arkansas after a tornado hit
Dec. 11, 202100: 41
However, it is not known for sure how much the final figure may amount to.
Beshear said the actual death toll could range
from 50 to 100 people.
"The best we can hope for would be 50, but I think it's going to be significantly worse than that," he
said.
“Remember we are still finding bodies.
In other words, we have sniffer dogs in cities where they shouldn't be ”.
"This is the deadliest tornado event we've ever had," Beshear said.
"I think it's going to be the longest and deadliest tornado event in American history," he
said.
[In photos: The devastation left by more than 30 tornadoes]
Following the collapse of the roof of a candle factory in Mayfield, at least eight people have been confirmed dead and survivors have described heartbreaking scenes.
Mayfield Mayor Kathy Stewart O'Nan told NBC that
the town "has disappeared."
"We knew it was wrong, but it wasn't until the sun came up that we looked and saw matches," he said.
"We are heartbroken."
A winter storm puts 11 million people on alert from California to Michigan
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And Mayfield was not the only town that was destroyed by the disaster.
"
I have towns that have disappeared
," Beshear told CNN on Sunday, including half of his father's hometown of Dawson Springs.
In Graves County,
a 3-year-old boy
was also confirmed
among the Kentucky dead,
and two other counties lost at least a dozen members of their community to the storm.
Although Kentucky was the hardest hit state, the devastation spread beyond its borders,
with several people killed in Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas.
In Illinois,
at least six people
were confirmed dead
after an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville was damaged.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a tweet Saturday that he and others were "heartbroken over the loss of our colleagues there."
Meanwhile,
in Tennessee there were at least four confirmed deaths,
with two dead in Missouri, including a young child.
In Arkansas, at least two people were confirmed dead, including one person at a Monette nursing home.
A plan to move on
Michael Dossett, director of the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, said efforts were already underway to begin rebuilding after the weekend's disaster.
Officials are in the process of drawing up "a plan to move forward, bringing in the construction of new homes," he said on Sunday.
A snowstorm leaves 61 people trapped in a bar in England
Nov. 30, 202100: 52
However, he said he also wanted to calm expectations, warning that "this does not happen overnight."
Beshear said he suspected "thousands" of homes had been lost in the disaster.
The governor said he was grateful for "the flood of support" his state has received from across the country.
And that he hoped Americans would see Kentucky as "a state that cares" for others.
A state that "is willing to cry with others as well, but is strong enough to rebuild," he said.