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Powerful Storm Hits Central U.S.; Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear Holds Press Conference, Says Death Toll Likely Over 50; Threat Of Russian Invasion to Dominate G7. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired December 11, 2021 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

I want to get to our breaking news right now. A powerful storm system is working its way through the central U.S. Millions are at risk; more than 200,000 homes and businesses are without power.

At least 24 tornadoes have already been reported across five states. Middle Tennessee now the latest area to issue a tornado warning. The main threat just moving past downtown Nashville in the last few minutes.

And in Western Kentucky, scenes of destruction are beginning to emerge. The governor says more than 50 deaths are likely from the storm. He's expected to hold a news conference any moment. And we'll bring it to you when it happens.

Meanwhile in Arkansas, at least two people have been killed, one at a Dollar General store and another at a nursing home, where 20 others were rescued.

And in Illinois, emergency crews are searching for people feared trapped inside a damaged Amazon warehouse. Some family members of those who worked there waiting on word from loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It was lightning bad. You know, we lost power for about two hours now. And then, my phone died. So it was like I have no idea -- to get a hold of him. I have no idea what's going on. And I'm -- we're just worried sick. We just want to know if he's OK.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

[05:05:00]

BRUNHUBER: We're going now live to Kentucky's governor, who is giving a briefing. Let's listen in.

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GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): -- damage in I believe over a dozen Kentucky counties. The primary tornado was on the ground continuously for over 200 miles in our state, something we have never seen before.

We have deaths in multiple, possibly, many counties. The hardest hit county appears to be Graves, where the city of Mayfield has been devastated. A roof collapse at a candle factory has resulted in mass casualties.

As of 4:45 am, 56,854 Kentuckians are without power. I've been personally over at the emergency operations center since about 1:00 am, overseeing our response and hearing and absorbing the difficult news in real time.

I've been in personal contact with local leaders, such as the mayor of Mayfield, county judges in Graves and Marshall Counties and talking to local emergency management in most of the hardest hit areas.

Before midnight, I declared a state of emergency. Now I've activated the National Guard. We're deploying 181 Guardsmen, including search and extraction and debris clearance folks. They'll be arriving in communities this morning.

The transportation cabinet has mobilized its heavy equipment to help clear debris. They'll be assisted by the Guard and the Division of Forestry. State police have been working all night to save lives and an IMT team of EMS, fire and other professionals are on the way.

I've also requested an immediate federal emergency declaration. And we've got two tractor trailers filled with water, headed toward Western Kentucky.

I want to thank every local EMS employee, police officer, firefighter and first responder. This has been one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history. And some areas have been hit in ways that are hard to put into words.

To all our of Kentucky families impacted by this, we want you to know that we're here for you, we love you and we are praying for you.

Counties with likely damage and debris as of 4 o'clock include Fulton, Hickman, Graves, Marshall, Lyon, Caldwell, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Breckenridge, Bullitt, Spencer, Shelby, Christian, Logan, Warren, Edmonson, Taylor and Marion.

And as we're sitting here today, this is before daybreak, we believe our death toll from this event will exceed 50 Kentuckians, probably end up closer to 70 to 100 lost lives. Remember, each of these are children of God, irreplaceable to their families and to their communities. We will make it through this. We will rebuild. We are strong,

resilient people. And we're going to be there every step of the way. I'm going to be in Western Kentucky a little later today, as soon as it is safe to travel and make sure people know that they are not alone, that this is one state, standing strong with those that have been impacted.

I'm going to turn it over to Michael Dossett from Emergency Management. And then we'll hear from our adjutant general as well. At the moment, it looks like we have to take questions by email. Those instructions have gone out because of a technical difficulty -- Director Dossett.

MICHAEL DOSSETT, DIRECTOR, KENTUCKY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you, Governor.

And I can only echo the governor's comments. This tornado event may surpass the 1974 super outbreak as one of the deadliest in Kentucky's history. Our hearts go out to all of the families that are in peril and all of our Kentuckians who have lost their lives.

I will tell you, from speaking with emergency management directors and judge executives, that rescues and search efforts are ongoing.

[05:10:00]

DOSSETT: Even before the winds stop blowing, as thunderstorms are going through, we have teams out there, local teams. So thank you for your efforts in all of the impacted counties.

The track for this tornado event is over 200 miles just in Kentucky. And it may eclipse the 1925 record tristate track for the longest tornado. It appears that this is going to be a quad-state event, all out of the same system, originating in Arkansas, through Missouri, Tennessee and into Kentucky.

It is a significant, massive disaster event. So as the governor indicated, all state resources are being brought to bear. We opened the EOC at 8:00 pm Eastern time and began receiving reports very quickly.

Some of the most serious hit are actually out of communications in some parts. We've had a lot of people step up to the plate; one in particular, Louisville Metro Emergency Management Services are currently on the highway en route to Mayfield. And they will be there by daybreak.

They're going to assist us with an IMT -- an incident management team -- who will be our forward observation point. And as the governor indicated, he has requested from the president an emergency declaration. And that will include power assessment teams that will go out into the field in all the damaged counties and also what is called an IMCT -- that's an incident management control team.

We'll use that and the state EOC for this protracted event. We'll be able to track issues, damages and resource requests from all counties simultaneously.

Again, we ask for your cooperation and your prayers for everyone that's impacted. We're doing damage assessments as they occur, reported through our EM directors. It will be daybreak before we even realize the full magnitude of this event.

Thank you, Governor.

MAJOR GENERAL HAL LAMBERTON, ADJUTANT GENERAL OF KENTUCKY: Good morning, everybody, I wanted to give you a situational awareness of the status of your Kentucky National Guard. As the governor indicated a short while ago, we've already mobilized a number of our Guardsmen.

This mobilization began shortly after midnight. So soldiers have been assembling for a few hours at this junction. While the governor specialized we have 181 soldiers and airmen who are already mobilizing in response to this incident, it does not stop with that number of service members.

As everybody is tracking at this junction, this is an evolving situation. We still have the storm front passing through the state. And so, as the situation continues to develop, we will call upon further members of the National Guard, your National Guard, to respond as necessary.

In the near term, Graves County is our immediate focus, as the governor indicated, because of the severity of the tornadoes that passed through there. But we're literally watching the entire state at this junction.

So as your neighbors and friends who are in the Guard -- you may see some of them in uniform this morning. You may see some of our folks in the National Guard literally deploying down the road in response to some of these affected areas -- know that this is what their focus is.

And they are here to serve you and the rest of our members in the commonwealth.

Thanks, sir.

BESHEAR: As we've mentioned a number of counties hit hard -- and we will have casualties in multiple counties -- a place that my dad is from, Dawson Springs hit really hard, too.

And I know that there is loss there as well and we will be there to help. We've been able to get a couple of the slides that show a little bit of what we have seen booted up.

This is from Joe Sullivan, who is the meteorologist for Emergency Management. I'm going to try to walk through them.

So this is the front itself that we saw. This is -- you can see how far and wide it went right as it comes up from the south.

[05:15:00] BESHEAR: Let's go to the next one. This shows you that we believe that there were four likely tornadoes, not just one but four, that hit in multiple places across Kentucky. This is why there were so many counties that ultimately have had significant damage.

Next one. This shows you what we believe will be the longest tornado touchdown in terms of distance in our history. You go all the way down to the bottom of the screen, that's where it first touched down and then it stayed on the ground that entire line, causing significant devastation.

This is incredibly rare to see. And it is one of the reasons that this was so devastating here in Kentucky.

I think we have one more -- oh, we have a couple more. This shows you the different warnings as it came through, different areas that were hit and hit hard. Shows you just how severe this event was and how widespread and how many different communities that it hit.

And let's go -- and this is the power outage map. As of 2:00 am -- obviously, that's evolved. But 56,000 -- we gave the number before -- plus Kentuckians without power.

As you can see, Western Kentucky, Hopkins County, surrounding area hit very, very hard.

And then as we move north, we have a lot of power outages, even throughout Lexington, Louisville and, certainly, Western Kentucky.

Let's see, do we have one more?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

BESHEAR: OK.

Why don't you, James, just show the one with the dots, the county map with the dots.

This shows you just one other way of showing where we've had damage. The reports have come in. For a tornado, four tornadoes, to cause damage in these many counties, again, I think shows that it will be the single most severe, certainly, tornado event in our history and I believe likely the most deadly.

Did I miss anything, Michael?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.

BESHEAR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just received an update on power outages. They are climbing.

BESHEAR: Yes. OK. So the last bit of information to come in is the power outages are climbing. They're climbing significantly. And daybreak is going to bring more tough news. We're going to learn about more loss of life at daybreak, more loss of

structure. And we'll be getting more reports that will include more power outages.

Now we do believe that the system is going to break up in severity, at least, by daybreak. We should be significantly out of the woods at about 10:00 am. The entire system will be out of Kentucky.

So were we able to get questions sent in?

I know this is imperfect but it's the best that we can do in an emergency situation. OK.

So first, just trying to confirm this figure of more than 50 feared dead in Kentucky, according to the governor. Yes, I fear that there are more than 50 dead in Kentucky. Confirmation on each individual is coming in. But we're going to lose over 50 people. Probably closer to somewhere between 70 and 100.

It's -- it's devastating.

Let's see. The next one -- I had that one.

Natasha (ph), will you -- great. From the "Herald Leader"

"Can you describe how many separate tornadoes we've had and the general trajectories of each?"

So, James, can you put that slide back up?

There are four tornadoes, one of which was the 200-mile tornado.

Keep going. It's one of the two weather pictures, I think -- there you go.

So those show you the four tornadoes; obviously, the longest one was the 227 -- well, 227-mile tornado, meaning it touched down and stayed down for that period of time. And then you had two to the south of it but very close together.

[05:20:00]

BESHEAR: And one to the north. So those are the four.

Now we had other severe weather in many parts of Kentucky. And we will see damage from wind and other results of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

BESHEAR: OK. Next.

"What do you know about injuries and casualties in Mayfield at the manufacturing plant?"

It is tragic. This is a candle factory. There were about 110 people in it at the time that the tornado hit it. We believe we'll lose at least dozens of those individuals. It's very hard, really tough and we're praying for each and every one of those families.

Let's see, "Kentucky's most recent COVID reports showed hospital ICU capacity strained in far Western Kentucky. How are hospitals handling injuries?"

The hospitals -- the hospitals are in good shape. They are responding well.

One, we were concerned about power and other issues so they were transferring patients. But we are not concerned at the moment of hospital capacity. And certainly, we have other professionals coming to help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

BESHEAR: OK. We're good on live questions now.

You want me to go through the list?

All right. First, I think we have -- and if I've answered your question already, KFBS12, Roger Say (ph).

QUESTION: Governor, what can you tell us about the timeline of getting to Mayfield and the area in Western Kentucky?

BESHEAR: Can you ask it again?

My audio was bad on the first part.

QUESTION: Sure.

What is your timeline for getting help and aid to the people in Mayfield and Fulton County and in Western Kentucky?

BESHEAR: Help is on the way right now. This morning, they are going to see the National Guard, the transportation cabinet, the Division of Forestry. They're going to see those trucks filled with water pull in.

Later today, they'll see teams of other first responders coming, especially from Louisville. They're going to see immediate action and help. Now we always think about that next day; let's remember that folks are going to need help for months to come.

And I'll be in Western Kentucky later this morning as soon as it is safe to travel. But we're going to be right there, with all of those officials that we've been talking to, to see the damage firsthand and to make sure that people know that we care and that we're going to be there for them.

Carla Ward (ph), "Herald Leader."

OK. Let's try Liam (ph) with WKMS Public Radio.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Governor, do you know where -- Governor, can you hear me? BESHEAR: I can.

QUESTION: Do you know where specifically reports of injuries and fatalities are coming from across the state, specifically communities and counties, by chance?

BESHEAR: Well, certainly, Graves; I think we're going to see them in Hopkins, Warren and then I think we will see several other counties. If -- I will be surprised if we don't lose people in at least five or more counties; Marshall also, some fatalities reported to us.

Again, this is a widespread weather event. And I think that we're, especially at daybreak, going to see that number of counties and the number of people grow.

Alan Watts (ph), WKDZ Radio.

All right. We'll move on to WDRB.

OK, how about Ryan Reynolds (ph)?

[05:25:00]

BESHEAR: All right, Jack Braymer (ph).

QUESTION: Yes, Governor, what's the situation on emergency shelters and flooding?

And do you feel like that there was enough advance warning with such a catastrophic storm?

BESHEAR: l do believe that there was advanced warning. But this is a storm the likes of which we have never seen in terms what this tornado did.

There are emergency shelters set up in multiple counties. The high school is being used as a primary shelter as well as an additional place where you can get medical help in Graves County. And I know that shelters are being set up in other counties.

Of course, we are really good people here in Kentucky. Most judges, county judges that I've talked to, say that kinfolk have already brought in most of those people. We had Fulton County hit really hard. Most everybody who has been displaced through the night is already staying with family.

OK, WDRB.

All right. Well, we'll make sure they get that question answered if they send it to us.

A really tough night. I'm on about two hours of sleep. Admittedly can't get through to family that I have in this area. I know there are a lot of other people that are going through the same thing.

It's going to be all right. It's going to be hard. And there is a lot of loss. But just like everything else we've been up against, we'll make it through this, too. Thank you all very much.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We were listening to Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, outlining just how bad the storm was. The governor said the death toll is likely to reach as high as 70 to 100 people across five or more counties. He said there were multiple casualties at a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, where 110 people were working.

And he said he fears they could lose dozens of workers there. The governor said it was likely four tornadoes that hit the state; the biggest was 227 miles, a historic storm in terms of the width of the area affected, the single biggest of its kind in terms of how big it was and how deadly.

The governor said he'll be traveling to Western Kentucky later today. In the meantime, he said they were sending emergency resources, the National Guard, trucks filled with water trucks and of course sending prayers to those affected.

So again, a historic storm hitting Kentucky. The governor fears the death toll could reach up to 100 people. But they'll only know just how bad this is once day breaks.

All right. We'll be right back.

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[05:30:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

BRUNHUBER: All right. An update on that breaking news, the devastating tornadoes that hit the central U.S., especially the state of Kentucky. We were just listening to Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, outlining how bad the storm was.

The governor says the death toll is likely to reach 70 to 100 people across multiple counties. He said there were multiple casualties at a candle factory in Mayfield, 110 people were working there. He said he fears they could lose dozens there.

The governor said it was likely four tornadoes hit the state. The biggest was 227 miles, historic storm in terms of the width of the area affected.

And we have storm chaser Michael Gordon.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[05:35:00]

BRUNHUBER: All right. Still to come, we'll have more on that breaking news as we follow the deadly storm system making its way through parts of the U.S. We'll have the latest from a storm chaser coming up. Please do stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: All right. Back to our breaking news, the destructive line of tornadoes from a storm threatening millions across the central U.S. At least 26 tornadoes have already been reported across five states.

[05:40:00]

BRUNHUBER: Officials in Kentucky say they're dealing with a, quote, "massive disaster event." The governor called it devastating, that as many as 70 to 100 people are feared dead.

The storms have also claimed the lives of at least two people in Arkansas. One person was killed when a nursing home was hit; another one, when a Dollar General store was hit.

And a new tornado watch has just been posted for portions of Eastern Tennessee, Northeastern Mississippi, Northern Alabama and stretching as far north as Ohio.

All right. Let's bring in storm chaser Michael Gordon, who joins us from Mayfield, Kentucky.

Thanks for being with us. It sounds as if Mayfield might have been the hardest hit. You saw the tornado up close. Describe what you saw and felt.

MICHAEL GORDON, STORM CHASER: It's almost unexplainable. But when I saw the tornado from the front side, it didn't look, you know -- from radar, it looked pretty large until it passed me. And I felt the forces.

And as I was only probably a quarter mile, half mile away, you could feel the suction that, as I opened up my window, that was sucking the air out of my truck up into the sky.

That tornado, it looked 10 times larger once it passed me. And all I was thinking was, hoping that it was not going through a large city, all the debris being thrown around, being sucked up. I had sheet metal flying across the interstate.

There were water fowl, ducks -- I had ducks fly by my truck. It was something, like I said, that's unexplainable, very heart-wrenching, something that you don't want to see, if that explains it.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. No, absolutely, I mean, heart-wrenching, especially when you learn how many people may have lost their lives in this. And the damage, the pictures that we see are just devastating.

I mean, what did you see in terms of the damage as this was passing by and sort of afterwards? GORDON: So now, after I caught that tornado, I followed it up. And now I'm in Mayfield, Kentucky. I'm actually across the parking lot from the candle factory, where EMS is here, a bunch of other first responders. There's a lot -- there's excavators. I think the rental companies have brought in a bunch of light plants.

They are digging, going up into the rubble of the candle factory. From what I could tell, the whole roof completely collapsed. When I look at it from where I'm at right now, it's pretty much flat on the ground.

In terms of other debris, it's pretty devastating. Anywhere you look, there is roofing material hanging from power lines, power lines all over -- they're wrapped around homes, wrapped around cars. Cars thrown up into trees.

I mean, it just -- it looks like a complete war zone. That's -- that's -- I mean, when you drive, there isn't one thing that isn't damaged. That's the thing. It's not like it's a hit or miss. It's, like I said, it's a bulldozer that went through the center of town and pretty much took everything with it.

In the morning, time's going to -- once the light comes up, I think the damage is going to be a lot more significant than what you're seeing right now. It's -- there's -- I mean, the weather, the rain, has calmed down, of course. So they've got a lot of the roads cleared out. I mean, everybody around here has a chain saw, all of the helpers, volunteers.

[05:45:00]

GORDON: Everybody's helping -- I mean, that's what I've seen when I got here. Everyone was out helping, searching homes, doing whatever they could do to help.

I think this is going to be a -- it is a team effort here. And it's showing. I haven't seen at some of the other large storms like this, I haven't seen this much, I guess, on-time arrival of personnel, EMS.

I mean, it was fast. I mean, we're not just talking -- we're not just talking a few sheriffs, you know. We're talking over 150-200 police cars I've seen. You know, I just had eight ambulances drive by me.

(CROSSTALK)

BRUNHUBER: Well, the governor has certainly said that they're sending in emergency personnel, National Guard being sent in as well. But he echoed what you said, which was the extent of the damage here won't be apparent until daybreak.

And then they can really assess how truly bad and historic this was. Listen, we'll have to leave it there. But thank you so much, Michael Gordon, for sharing your experiences there. Really appreciate it.

GORDON: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Coming up, a live report from Liverpool, England, where G7 diplomats are meeting this weekend to discuss the urgent situation in Ukraine. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken and his G7 counterparts are now gathering in Liverpool. Topping the agenda in the volatile situation along the border between Ukraine and Russia. Russia's foreign ministry on Friday issued an ultimatum to NATO to rescind its membership invitations to Georgia and Ukraine, a demand that NATO quickly rejected.

[05:50:00]

BRUNHUBER: CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is standing by in Liverpool.

Nic, unity against Russia and China, is that going to be the central theme here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And Russia in particular, because it's the most pressing issue at the moment. We have seen over recent weeks, diplomats, leaders trying to sort of present a united voice to President Putin that, if you push troops into Ukraine, there are going to be consequences.

And absolutely that is front and center of talks that began a few hours ago, with the G7 foreign ministers. Secretary of state Antony Blinken met last night with the German foreign minister, who very recently came to the job in the last few days, tying up sort of their commonality and position on what potential economic sanctions could be put in place against Russia.

Of course, energy, the gas, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be front and center. But not only Russia but China; Afghanistan, we heard from the British today, saying they contributed $100 million in humanitarian aid, just announced at the G7.

Myanmar, the Western Balkans, Ethiopia, a lot of hot topics, as they call them here, to be discussed.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much. We'll be following through the weekend. Nic Robertson in Liverpool. Thanks so much.

And we'll be right back.

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[05:55:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING) BRUNHUBER: Back now to our breaking news, the devastating tornadoes

impacting five states across the central U.S. At least 26 tornadoes have already been reported. Kentucky appears to be the hardest hit, with the governor calling it the most severe tornado event in the state's history.

As many as 70 to 100 people are feared dead. A candle factory in Mayfield, in the western part of the state, collapsed, with dozens of workers inside.

The storms have also claimed the lives of at least two people in Arkansas. One person was killed at a nursing home when it was hit. Another when a Dollar General store was hit.

And in Illinois, fatalities have been confirmed in an Amazon warehouse damaged by the storm, though no official figure has been given. Emergency crews have been on scene all night searching for people trapped inside. And tornado watches are still posted from Louisiana all the way north to Ohio.

All right. That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. CNN "NEW DAY WEEKEND" is here for those here in the U.S. and Canada. For those watching internationally, "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next.