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More Than 80 Feared Dead After Tornadoes Hit Eight States; Tornado Survivor Recounts Moment When Storm Hit; Dozens Missing After Tornado Levels Factory In Mayfield, Kentucky; KY Gov: We Have 1,000- Plus Homes That Are Just Gone. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired December 12, 2021 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: The 15th Annual CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute, tonight at 8:00 Eastern.
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WHITFIELD: Oh, it's going to be a great show and per usual, it's going to be a tear-jerker. But you will be inspired. It begins tonight at 8:00 p.m.
All right. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "CNN NEWSROOM" continues with Phil Mattingly right now.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Phil Mattingly in Washington. Jim Acosta is off today.
And we begin this hour with a race against time. Rescuers are digging through rubble with machines and by hand searching for signs of life after catastrophic tornadoes ripped through eight states, leaving communities in shambles.
More than 80 people including children are feared dead. Most of them in Kentucky where the governor of the commonwealth expects the death toll will surpass 100.
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GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: I think it's going to be the longest and deadliest tornado event in U.S. history. I've got towns that are gone, that are just -- I mean, gone. I mean, you think you'd go door to door to check on people and see if they're OK. There are no doors. The question is, is somebody in the rubble of thousands upon thousands of structures? I mean, it is devastating.
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MATTINGLY: And words can hardly describe some of the pictures we've seen. At any moment we are expecting another update from the governor along with local, state, and federal officials. My colleague Boris Sanchez is on the ground in Mayfield, Kentucky, helping to cover this story from every angle.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Phil. And you're absolutely right. You are at a loss for words looking at the magnitude of destruction across eight states. It's difficult to fathom when you see the power of Mother Nature to wreak havoc and to erase entire communities from the map.
In Dawson Springs, Kentucky, the list of missing people is now eight pages long, single-spaced. And here where I am in Mayfield, the destruction stretches for blocks as far as the eye can see in every direction. Residents are agonizing as a candle factory collapsed while loved ones were working inside. It now sits under piles of metal. Debris, cars, it's been more than 36 hours since anyone was pulled alive from that factory.
Let's take you there now with CNN's Brynn Gingras. She's live in Mayfield, Kentucky.
And, Brynn, that collapsed candle factory, officials have described it as a ground zero for this tragedy. Bring us up to speed where things stand at that site.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In fact, Boris, we're about a mile or so from that candle factory. We can't even get there because it is a recovery -- a search and recovery effort at this point. But where I'm standing here is what I'm sure you have been seeing as you entered Mayfield. All these homes destroyed. And would you believe it? This particular home we actually spoke to the woman who survived this home by being in a closet and by the grace of God her nephew was able to rescue her by throwing bricks off of her because her chimney collapsed on top of her.
These are some of the survival stories that we are hearing in Mayfield, and they are pretty miraculous. I want you to hear about another one that happened just down the street from here. An entire family taking shelter in a crawl space. Listen to this emotional sound.
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SAMANTHA BURNS, SURVIVED DEADLY TORNADO: Me and our daughter were sitting on that pallet. This door here is what kept us alive basically, along with him because he was holding it with a lanyard, just a lanyard.
DE'AMONTE WILLIAMS, SURVIVED DEADLY TORNADO: It felt like there were 10 grown men on the outside of this door trying to pull off the hinges.
GINGRAS: So he's holding the door shut.
BURNS: Yes.
GINGRAS: You're holding your 6-year-old daughter.
BURNS: Yes. GINGRAS: Can you just describe being a mom?
BURNS: We were just -- I just told her to close her eyes and she started counting. So she's, like, hide and seek, mom?
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GINGRAS: I mean, can you imagine having to tell your daughter to pretend that you're playing hide and seek while the storm is passing over you?
What you're looking at right now are just some of the crews that we have been seeing all around Mayfield, search and rescue crews, people knocking on doors, even volunteers trying to see if anyone needs help or is alive in houses and businesses all around this area.
Boris, you talked about that candle factory. We also spoke today to someone who lost his father in that candle factory. He was a 47-year- old man whose body was pulled from the wreckage last night. This gentleman who talked to us. His son said he had seen his father earlier that day and he was given a Christmas present from his father, one that he of course is now going to cherish forever. Hear from the son.
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ZACHARY DANIEL, FATHER DIED IN CANDLE FACTORY COLLAPSE: This is horrible. I still don't believe it. In my eyes, it's not true, I just seen him. It's not true. So it was crazy. I'm just still in shock basically. Still in shock right now. I don't try to think about it. I just want to see him for real, see him at least for one more time. I didn't get to visit the body. So I'm in shock.
SHANIYAH MCREYNOLDS, CANDLE FACTORY EMPLOYEE: If they would let me down there, I would be digging right now until daybreak. I would be digging right now if I could. Fingers and all, I would be digging, no gloves. Even if I have (INAUDIBLE) I would be down there digging if they could let me. But can't do nothing but sit and wait.
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GINGRAS: You can hear the desperation in her voice. She works at the candle factory. She worked the day shift, though, when of course these storms rolled through at night. She's waiting to hear from colleagues if they are still alive. Of course she's losing hope as the minutes and hours pass by.
But, Boris, this is what we've been seeing and hearing all day today in Mayfield is these survival stories and then of course these stories of other people who are just in disbelief, stunned at what their community now looks like, and in many cases they've lost so much more than just their property. They've lost friends and family and colleagues as well -- Boris. SANCHEZ: Yes, that's an important point, Brynn. It's hard to encompass
the amount of destruction here. But the human toll, the cost of life is so much more and so much harder for this community to bear.
Brynn Gingras in Mayfield, thank you so much.
We want to share with you now the story of Jessie Fitts. He's joining us over the phone and he works for a van company that's contracted with that candle factory.
Jessie, thanks for joining us. We appreciate you sharing part of your day with us. I understand you were driving at the time that the tornado hit. Walk us through what happened and what you experienced.
JESSIE FITTS, TORNADO SURVIVOR (via phone): Yes, sir. I was driving a 15-passenger shuttle van where we contracted to carry candles back and forth to (INAUDIBLE). I had got back about 8:30, and the plant was in the designated area for the tornado. So we just left us two truck drivers (INAUDIBLE) protecting shield. So the one truck driver he left and went home about 9:30. And left me and I was just sitting in the shuttle van waiting for it to pass over.
I sit in the van, I thought it was coming. So I try to get out -- I was in the breezeway. So I tried to get out to -- tried to move the van out to park it right behind the candle factory because I'm thinking maybe the building will stop the wind because it had bust out the side window. By that time it had took the back of the van so I just dove down in the floorboard and I held onto the seat.
So it threw me all the way back to the driver's seat, and it just was going crazy. And then it threw me back to the floor board. So I just death-gripped the bottom of the seat and dug my nails all in it. And it just took me for a ride. And when it stopped, the whole van was on top of the candle factory over all the debris. Everything, all the (INAUDIBLE), everything, the whole van that I'm in was sitting on top of everything.
So, all the windows, when I looked out the window, I couldn't get out because I was so far up so I just yelled for help. And a young man climbed all the way up. He was going up over rails, under everything, and he came and he got the side door open. And I just followed him. And we just tried to make our way back down to the ground. And as we were going back down, we were accumulating other people. It ended up about seven people behind us as we made it back down to the ground.
SANCHEZ: Jessie, that is an incredible story and you're lucky to be alive. What was going through your mind when you were holding on? As you said, you were death-gripping that seat. What was passing through your mind at the time?
FITTS: Well, I actually thought it was over with. I was going to wait for it to be over with. I was counting my blessings. I couldn't believe it. I only had like -- I went to the emergency room because my whole body was sore. But they did x-rays, and I got a large scratch up under my arm where I was stuck up on the seat trying to hold on. And my shoulder was swollen and out of place. My left shoulder. And that's it.
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SANCHEZ: We're glad that you're OK. I'm wondering when you finally realized that it's over and that your truck is on top of that debris field, what's left of that candle factory and you realize that somebody's helping you get out, your instinct was to try to help other people. How does it feel knowing that it appears that so many didn't make it out of that factory, people that you perhaps had connections to?
FITTS: Yes. I actually knew everybody that they have said so far. I had a major position in the company so I was familiar with everybody. It's just -- it's heartbreaking. My condolences for those who lost their families. And I just know that by the grace of God I'm still here for a reason. So I'm just taking it one day at a time.
SANCHEZ: There's not much else you can do. As you said, count your blessings and offer condolences and well wishes to those affected. What can you tell us about the people there, the folks that you worked with and what that factory, the role that it plays in this community? It's a small town. It's only about 10,000 people, and it sounds like a lot of folks had connections to people who worked there.
FITTS: Yes, sir. I think everybody's purpose there for that day was to make it for Christmas. Everybody there was for the same purpose, I believe. After it happened, everybody who was able joined together. And we all just -- everybody helped everybody that could be helped.
SANCHEZ: Jessie Fitts, we're grateful that you shared your story with us. And we're glad that you're OK. Thank you so much for the time, sir.
FITTS: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Of course. We want to get to CNN's Nick Valencia now. He's in Bowling Green where a tornado hit that city especially hard.
Nick, show us what it's like. Share with us what you're seeing.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey there, Boris. It is striking to see these images especially with the sun shining down here. It's a gorgeous day, much different from what this community went through just over 24 hours ago. And I want to show you this home behind me here. We understand an 89-year-old woman lived here and was at home at the time of the tornado. Many people were at home. It hit in the overnight hours.
You can see this car just on the side of the home flipped over like a toy. Her garage doors are ripped off the hinges. And inside, peaking inside, we saw that her Christmas tree was still up with the ornaments intact even though half of her roof is gone. You know, I mentioned that storm hitting in the overnight hours.
So many people were home, and there were survivors, but there were, as we understand according to the locals here, several people who perished in this community, that has not been officially confirmed yet by the police, but it's residents that are talking about what they're seeing here because of scenes like this.
This is about a hundred-yard debris field of what used to be a row of homes. In the distance there I think my camera man is zooming in. You can see the foundation of what was once a home, and it was about a hundred yards on the other side, or about 100-yards on the other side of the fields here where the kitchen is and where the living room is. The debris, what's left of the kitchen and the living room.
And earlier I spoke to a resident who was also at home at the time of the tornado, a 38-year-old man who says he was in his car when the tornado hit. His family was in the home behind him. He said he barely had enough time to scream before the tornado passed. He talked to us about what was going through his head the moments that storm came through here in Bowling Green.
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VALENCIA: You're in the car and they go upstairs and the roof collapses in on them and that refrigerator that we're looking at the corner.
REDZO, SURVIVED DEADLY TORNADO: Yes.
VALENCIA: And when you got to them, what kind of shape were they in? What was their condition?
REDZO: They were screaming and crying, and my little girl's hand was cut here and bloody. I don't know what to do. I don't have a roof over my head and my kids.
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VALENCIA: Redzo went on to tell us that his 13-year-old actually had to get eight stitches in his foot. They went to the hospital for that. And while he was in the hospital he described, you know, bodies just coming in, people with broken bones, flesh wounds. He was lucky, he said, to get out with just a few minor scrapes and cuts.
But this community here is very active right now. We saw groups of the National Guard. They're going through these areas to clear them out and make sure that there's no one still trapped in the rubble. And if you can see behind me, the work here and the effort, the cleanup effort, it's really immediate here.
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It's really impressive to see, Boris, all the community members here are coming together. Some of these streets that were filled with debris just a few hours ago have been cleared off to bring some of these emergency crews. Yes, people, of course, you know, first responders coming through here, volunteers, coming through with food and water for those community members that decided to stick it out and have not yet been to the shelter or a shelter nearby. And we were in a shelter just a couple of hours ago with about 90 or
so displaced people, people who are without homes. They don't have insurance much like the 38-year-old man that you just heard from. He doesn't know what he's going to do.
And right now, I don't think a lot of people here are beyond that state of shock just realizing, you know, starting to realize what they've been through here. You know, we've been talking so much about Mayfield. But here in Bowling Green, it was especially hard hit as well -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: A lot of people, as you noted, Nick, in that situation, still in a daze, still not sure exactly what the next steps are. I'm wondering as resources pour into places like Mayfield and Bowling Green, what have the residents there shared with you, is their biggest need? What help can be offered to them right now, not only by local leaders but also all the organizations that are streaming in to offer aid?
VALENCIA: You know, the biggest thing that people have told me is they just want to take a hot shower. You know, they're going now on almost two days now without a shower, and you know, they'd like to get some of their belongings. So those 90 people that were in the shelter were being brought back here by bus to see if anything was left of their homes.
But, you know, as you mentioned and as I just talked about, you know, it's really that daze still and that shock of having gone through something like this. You know, going back to that 38-year-old Bosnian man, this is a very international community, a lot of students here from Bowling Green live here, professionals live here, they all experienced the same thing. And they're all just sort of scratching their heads saying nothing like this happens here in Kentucky.
You know, Redzo went on to tell me that he's gotten the emergency alerts before for severe weather systems that have come through. But nothing has ever materialized. So when he got the alert on his phone, he went to his car to kind of see what was on its way here, and before he knew it that storm was right on top of them and it moved on. You know, people here need everything from food to clothes to, like I said, just a hot shower and a nice warm place to put their head at night -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: And officials have made clear they're doing everything they can to get the resources that those folks need. We're set to hear from Governor Andy Beshear, a number of other leaders both local and federal in just a few moments.
Nick Valencia in Bowling Green, thank you so much.
We do want to pivot now to the small city of Dawson Springs, that city nearly flattened by Friday night's tornadoes. This is what's left of the western Kentucky town of about 2700 people. The storm uprooting trees, reducing homes to nothing but debris. The governor of Kentucky telling CNN this morning that the list of people still missing is about eight pages long. And here is Governor Andy Beshear right now heading to a podium
updating us on the latest efforts to return Kentucky to normal.
BESHEAR: -- in our history. We have lost far too many of our brothers and sisters. The damage is devastating. Entire blocks, more than one block, with nothing standing. To the people of America, there is no lens big enough to show you the extent of the damage here in Graves County or in Kentucky. Nothing that was standing in the direct line of this tornado is still standing.
We currently have 18 counties with damage. As of this morning we had between 36 and 50,000 Kentuckians without power. But I will say that that is improving. Mayfield, where we are today, Dawson Springs, my dad's hometown, and Breman were hit hard. Bowling Green sustained significant damage.
I believe this will ultimately be the longest tornado in certainly U.S. history from the point where it touched down to when it finally picked back up, over 220 miles, 200 of them are in my state with our people that have suffered from it. It was joined by at least three other tornadoes here in Kentucky. I think we now believe maybe many, many more.
I've been living this in real time since midnight yesterday. But while I was at the state's Emergency Operation Center receiving reports in real time, western Kentucky and its people were at ground zero.
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So 40 hours in, here's where I think we are. First, we're grateful. We are grateful to our first responders who were there all through the evening out in the storm itself, showing incredible heroism. And they are still at work. We're grateful for all the help that we've received from other cities and other states, help from the federal government that has come in so many different forms.
We're grateful for the outpouring of love, it's the best way I can describe it, from all over the country and from all walks of life, I want to thank everybody for standing with the people of Kentucky. We feel it. In fact, one of our biggest challenges right now is organizing the amount of people that want to help, want to donate, and want to volunteer. But you know what, that's the best challenge that any of us could ask for.
So we declared our state of emergency in advance of midnight before the storm hit. That's a state of emergency. We've now been granted the immediate federal state of emergency. It is rare. It was granted incredibly quickly. And we are grateful to Homeland Security, to FEMA, and to President Biden himself.
The National Guard has been deployed. We have over 300 guardsmen that are active. They are out in our communities. They are doing everything from going door to door, though in many of these communities we don't have doors anymore. They're going rubble to rubble searching hopefully for survivors, but otherwise to at least have certainty for families that we can advise them of their loss. They're doing debris removal and they are also helping out in law
enforcement capacity where needed. Our Transportation cabinet has been out. Hundreds of Kentucky workers and every large truck we can find. And let me tell you, today in Mayfield we've even started moving debris out. And when you think 40 hours in, that is a testament to the people and the workers here and also the workers at that Cabinet.
Division of Forestry is assisting with tree removal. We have requested and we have received assistance from all over the state and from the federal government including help in search and rescue, from federal teams as well as other state teams, and for supplies, especially drinking water and generators, we're now working on getting enough water for the hospital here to operate on a daily basis until service is restored.
We launched the Team Western Kentucky Relief Fund at wkyrelieffund.ky.gov. Here's how the people of America responded. 18,031 donations. Over $2.3 million. Every single penny of which is going to come to help our families here. The first set of expenses, grants that we're going to be rolling out are for funeral assistance. The very first thing that we have to do is grieve together. And we're going to do that before we rebuild together. More information will be coming on that.
Today we can also announce that our state parks are open to help families that have lost their homes. We're taking them in. We are trying to guarantee everybody a two-week stay so they're not worried about tomorrow. They can worry about finding their relatives, making sure their kids have enough to eat. We've opened Kentucky Dam Village, Ken Lake, Lake Barkley, that is in this region.
Barren River and Rough River which can help the people of Bowling Green and Audubon, which can help the folks in Muhlenberg County. We already have 104 adults and two kids at Pennyrile that's helping the people of Dawson Springs, a town that half of which is leveled. It's open to first responders and volunteers as well. And let me thank all of them, every single one for what they are doing.
They've helped us clear roads and ultimately to have even knocked on doors where they stand to check on people. We want to thank the rest of the country for your attention, for your help, and for your prayers. We needed them and we are still hoping as we move forward for some miracles to find more people and to hopefully have a lower death count than what we expect.
I wish I understood why we've gotten hit with a pandemic, a historic ice storm, flooding, and now the worst tornado in our history all in a span of 19 months. What I do know is that in Kentucky we're good people and we care about one another. That's why people were out in this storm helping their neighbors or people they don't know.
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That's why other counties who can look on people's shirts are here and were here immediately trying to help. It's why we opened 13 shelters but only have six open anymore because we take each other into our homes. We're going to grieve together. We're going to dig out and clean up together, and we will rebuild and move forward together. We're going to get through this. We're going to get through this together because that is what we do.
We are blessed today to have both the secretary for U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the head administrator for Federal Emergency Management Agency known as FEMA with us less than 40 hours after this event began. Federal government has been there every step of the way even helping us to know what we can ask for and saying yes.
I want to thank all them. That starts with the president who called me three times yesterday alone. I believe we're going to hear from Congressman Comer here in a minute. I've heard from Senator McConnell. We are very pleased with the response. We want you to keep it up, but we want to thank you so much.
We're first going to hear from Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the U.S. Department for Homeland Security.
Mr. Secretary, we can't thank you enough for being here for our people.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Thank you very much, Governor. FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell and I and our teams visited the candle factory site, the decimated site earlier today. We spoke with the leader of the search and rescue team and have the opportunity to thank some of his members.
I saw on site a backpack that was left behind and a pair of shoes. And it represents the tragedy that this tornado has wreaked on this area of Kentucky. We learned of a telephone that was recovered, a cell phone that recorded 27 missed messages. We've lost fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and others. But as the governor so poignantly and powerfully stated, we will get through this, we will grieve together, but we will also recover together.
And that is why we and the federal government are here today. I want to make it perfectly clear that we are here physically today, but we will be here tomorrow and the days, weeks, and months ahead until the recovery is complete. I want to express our tremendous thanks and admiration of the governor for his leadership of the people of Kentucky. In a time like this, it is a time to come together, and that is indeed what we have done.
Federal, state, and local personnel of all walks in response of the needs of the people. We also visited a fire station and saw first responders who themselves are survivors of the disaster, place their own needs behind and continue to respond to the needs of others. And I want to pay special thanks to the first responders and to all of those here in this area who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the well-being of others.
We met with the mayor of Mayfield and heard her expression of resolve and commitment to the recovery. One of the things we've learned over the years about disasters is the need to lean forward and move personnel and resources very early. And that is indeed what we have done. FEMA has deployed its incident management assistance teams to Kentucky to help lead the federal effort on the ground.
Damage assessment teams, search and rescue experts, and additional staff were standing at the ready to support the rescue operation. FEMA is helping deliver food, water, shelter, power, and all necessary aid to local communities. Upon receiving the requests yesterday from the governor, President Biden approved an emergency declaration for Kentucky.
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Giving this commonwealth and its local emergency responders needed resources for this response, including direct federal assistance from DHS, and the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and the rest of the federal family. As the President told the country yesterday, whatever is needed here in Kentucky, and across any community affected by this tragic event, the federal government will do everything we can, everything in our power to help. Now, let me turn it over to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell for further details. Thank you.
DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. And thank you, Governor. And just to all of the people of Kentucky, my heart goes out to each and every one of you who have experienced the tragic events from these tornadoes. As you heard from the Governor, you had an outpouring of support that has come in from other communities. But I want you to know that the nation, your country is praying with you. They're praying with you today, for your speedy recovery and for all the tragedy that you have endured.
I'd also like to recognize those first responders, the heroic efforts that they put forth over the last 40 hours since this tornado struck, are just incredible, going out there not knowing maybe what their families were going through, or their homes and making sure that they're taking care of their communities, our first responders across this nation are always amazing to me how they are so available and go out and put themselves in harm's way to make sure that others can be safe. And so from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much.
And then the neighbors, we've also heard incredible stories of neighbors helping neighbors, neighbors rescuing people from rubble. You're also first responders, and thank you so much for all of the effort that you put in to make sure that your neighbors are safe. And we did have an opportunity today to be able to visit a couple of areas that have been impacted, we were able to tour Graves County and Marshall County, as well as visit the candle factory.
And as you heard the governor say, me, myself, and the rest of the nation, we've been watching this, we've been seeing the pictures of this. But standing there standing in these communities, you don't get that feeling from a picture. When you stand in one direction and look and see all of the devastation, and then just turn to your right and all the devastation around you.
You can't understand how this has impacted these communities until you're there, which is why it's so important to be here to see it for myself so we can make sure that we're providing the right level of assistance to help with your response and your ongoing recovery. We had the opportunity just a few moments ago to hear from the county executives, where the governor brought them together to hear the impacts that they're having and some of their shortfalls. The things that we heard are housing, you've heard that before, that housing is going to be a tremendous need as we continue to go forward, power, water, fuel, all of these things to help the community start their rebuilding process.
Because housing we know is going to be such a tremendous need. We are sending in one of our housing experts that will be here tomorrow to begin the strategy for how we're going to be able to help with the long term housing needs and the recovery of these communities.
Part of that is we also did receive a request from the governor just moments ago to for a major disaster declaration. As you heard the President approved an emergency declaration yesterday, which allowed us to really move resources in quickly to start with those initial response efforts. But the major disaster declaration is going to begin to help individuals. You can go to disasterassistance.gov. And you can find the type of assistance that will be available once the declaration is approved.
It's also going to allow us to help with the long term repair of all of the critical infrastructure that's been damaged by this storm. Again, go to disasterassistance.gov and you can find out more information about what will be available.
And we also know that the communications are bad, and you're not going to be able to perhaps access some of the sites that we send you to or make phone calls. So we're going to send teams into the field. We call them Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams.
So if you see somebody walking around with a FEMA shirt, a FEMA jacket on, and you have a question, pull them aside, they're going to be able to look it up, they're going to have iPads with them, they can find information, they can help you register for assistance if you need to. They should be on the ground starting tomorrow and going into those communities that have been the most impacted.
And just to close, FEMA is just one part of the team. This disaster declaration is going to allow us to bring the entire federal family together to provide the much needed support that you're going to have for today. And for the duration of the recovery and Governor you have my commitment to make sure that we're giving you everything that you need to help with this long recovery that you're going to be faced with. Thank you.
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GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): I want to thank the Secretary and the Administrator. This is the fastest emergency declaration that I've ever heard of. And they had resources on the way even before it was processed. It's everything that we could request. It also reminded me of our police chief here who's doing a great job in Mayfield having to survey his own officers today to see whose homes were standing and who needed help. Can you imagine that working two straight days to help people when your home isn't even standing? That's what we've got people doing.
I also met earlier. We have lots of thanks out there. I do want to thank AT&T, which specifically got to communities, Dawson springs and Benton their cell phones back up, they were having trouble communicating even with each other and emergency personnel. We appreciate the second one just came up online. Next I want to introduce Michael Dossett he is our Director of Kentucky Emergency Management.
MICHAEL DOSSETT, DIRECTOR, KENTUCKY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you Governor. So just a few brief comments, first of all, again, our hearts go out to you and to the families of those who have been lost a tragic event that will rank among one of Kentucky's worst disasters. Thank you to Secretary Mayorkas and administrator Criswell, thank you so much for coming to see on the ground.
But it looks like in Kentucky, you go to many places in the nation, we follow disasters across the country, seeing who here present only hours after the event is priceless. Thank you so much. Our Regional Administrator Gracia Szczech, Gracia and I probably speak most often once a week, she's the administrator, please raise your hand Gracia.
She is the administrator for region four, eight states. She has been nothing more than exceptional in processing this disaster. In fact, as was indicated, assistance was on the way before we had the first declaration. I just received an e-mail not two minutes ago, that advised that our expedited application will be signed by the governor and then it will be forwarded to the Gracia. And then it will be forwarded to Gracia. And I hope to have some news that the governor can share shortly after that. So thank you for the quick response.
Some of the things that we have we have on the ground now, we've talked about. We have the Federal USAR team. That is the major search and rescue team. We've requested several more to assist in other areas of our impacted counties. And that's in the works.
The IMAT team, this is the overhead team that manages the disaster with us. They're already in the EOC working. We have an incident support team that will go downrange and assist us in organization. Comments about the long term housing, thank you, because that's what's going to be primary in this disaster.
That team will be here. They will integrate with our staff and we will draft the plan to move forward bringing new housing into construction and setting expectations. Folks, this doesn't happen overnight. But the process is starting immediately. John Brogan, are you here? John is my counterpart in the FEMA process. John is our Federal Coordinating Officer. He was here for the ice storm and for the flooding event three weeks after that. So he is no stranger to what we need here in Kentucky. And he'll be working this disaster too.
I'm just going to end with telling you a very short story on our tour today. We met with a lady by the name of Jenna Adams, who is a council person for the mayor. And she was so significant in speaking about what Kentuckians do with other Kentuckians. She went home and had to deal with her wash in the washing machine
that was going to ruin because the power was out and she was dealing with the aftermath of some recovery issues. And she talked about what neighbors are doing and we saw it for ourselves as we've all done in the past two days. So I want to end with thanking you, thanking you for your efforts, thanking you for Kentuckians being Kentuckians and doing what we do.
BESHEAR: Thank you. I also want to thank Kentucky's federal delegation, every single member of that delegation has pushed hard successfully for the steps that we need. They have been supportive even when we've been out of communication sometimes. We have the congressman from this very region and I know it's been right here with all our people that's Congressman James Comer.
[16:40:10]
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): I want to thank Governor Beshear for his quick response, his response with emergency management with the National Guard with the State Police. I want to thank Secretary Mayorkas and the FEMA Director for coming here immediately. This is going to be an effort that's going to take local state and federal cooperation. And we're going to have it.
We pledge that we had a meeting prior to this press conference with the local elected officials in the counties most adversely affected in West Kentucky. We've already spoken about the immediate needs of power, of water restoration, getting utilities back, communication back, I think everyone's going to be working together. This isn't going to happen overnight. This is going to be a very long process.
But in speaking with every local resident in this community and the other communities adversely affected, they all will quickly say we're going to rebuild, we're going to come back. And that's what you have here in this part of Kentucky and West Kentucky, people that have a sense of community pride, they want to rebuild, and we're going to be there cooperating on the state, federal, and of course, the local level. So thank you.
BESHEAR: Thank you. Next up, we have the National Guard, which has been so critical these last 18, 19 months in so many different ways. We call on them to do so much. Most recently, they were helping to staff or overrun hospitals at a time when we desperately needed help. Every community there in, the morale picks up. We know when they're there. We're going to make it. So here's General Larkin to give us an update. General?
GENERAL ROBERT LARKIN: Thank you, sir. Currently the Kentucky National Guard has a slightly over as the Governor mentioned 300 soldiers and airmen on duty. We're operating nine Kentucky counties, 106 of which are here in Graves County.
We are performing missions and law enforcement augmentation, search and rescue, route clearance, and providing air support and airlift. We continue to anticipate the needs and we continue to process requests to affect the operation center. As always, we are proud to serve the Commonwealth and we fight as Kentuckians. Thank you.
BESHEAR: Finally, we got a real special person. First person that I gave a hug to when I got on scene, Mayor here in Mayfield is Kathy O'Nan. And when I first got to talk to her since this has happened, we were standing outside of that candle factory. These are all our people. But these are neighbors of hers that she serves every day. Mayor we're with you and we love you, Mayor O'Nan.
MAYOR KATHY O'NAN, MAYFIELD, KENTUCKY: Thank you so much Governor. As the mayor of this tightly knit small western Kentucky town, one of the greatest honors I have is watching the first responders all over the county is they run to disasters, 40 hours after the greatest disaster to ever hit Kentucky and especially my hometown. I know because they're here standing behind me that my state government and my federal government are running toward that disaster with us.
They came to us. I didn't call them, they called me. And that shows me how miraculous of a situation exist in the Commonwealth and within our federal government. When the sun rose over western Kentucky in Mayfield, the morning after this horrid disaster, I walked out of the fire station of our city government complex. Our city hall was destroyed. Our fire station was destroyed. I don't think there's a pane of glass in any vehicle or property that the city owns, that isn't shattered.
And as I walked out, I looked across the street to a bank where there was so much rubble. I looked over the city and I've said it before it looked like matchsticks and I did cry. I've tried not to cry a lot. But I did cry. I had to have a moment. And I looked across and in the rubble of that bank, I saw the flag of the United States that had just recently flown at that fire station.
So I walked across the street and I've move the bricks aside and I took that flag and standing just over to the right of me were two of our first responders and I went to them and handed it to them. And immediately, those two men began to fold it with the most respect. They'd been up all night, they were tired, they were dirty. And they begin to fold it is gently and as beautifully as I have ever seen.
[16:45:26]
I've had that flag with me in my possession. It is safely at my home. And it will always hold a roof place of respect on that city government complex, however, it might look in the future, and it will be there. But I know that in the future, we will raise another flag, which represents everything that's happened here, all the efforts of everyone.
And I look forward to that day, when we raised that flag of hope and security over that fire station once again. I want to thank the media also. You guys probably don't hear that very much. I want to thank you because you're telling our story. I guess every mayor feels the same way. But we are special here. We are tightly knit, as I said at the beginning. And we may squabble and disagree. But this is what we do. We come together, and we work to build. Thank you so much for building with us. BESHEAR: Thank you. OK to take some questions. All right. We'll open it up to questions. Just let us know who your question is for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, the search and rescue folks, can you tell us whether anybody has been pulled out of the candle factory alive since yesterday's press conference and if so, what are circumstances?
BESHEAR: So we're still getting information in on the candle factory. The owner has been in contact and believe he has some different information, we are trying to verify it. If so, it may be a better situation in the miracle we were hoping for. But since 3:30 yesterday, we haven't made another live rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor, can you give us some hard numbers anything, a number of people that were in the factory that are missing, the number of people who have been rescued, the number of people in that.
BESHEAR: So the numbers that we had, that we were talking about yesterday are still the numbers that we have. Again, the company right now says it has different information, but until we can verify it, we're still where we were yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us what that was?
BESHEAR: We're running down that information, there were 110 or so people within the facility. Originally, there were 40 rescues and then they're still trying to make contact with different individuals to determine exactly how bad it is. I am praying that maybe original estimates of those we've lost wrong if so it's going to be pretty wonderful. But we -- it's way too early.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there an estimate in terms of size in the damage and number of homes, businesses that maybe or early on that --
BESHEAR: We're going to have over thousand homes that are just gone, gone. And that assessment is going to take some time, but we. I don't think we'll have seen damage at this scale ever. Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just talked to some folks who came at Madison, their home is a pile of rubble. What you mentioned told us about where can they go, wherever they get the help they need?
BESHEAR: Are they here in Graves County?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're here in Graves County.
BESHEAR: Do we have some of our Graves County responders, Madison and all we're sending people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe we're setting up at the Graves County in fairground.
BESHEAR: Yes. Right. So we're dropping water at the fairgrounds here. We were having all the packages now delivered there from different groups. Michael? DOSSETT: Governor there is a mobile pharmacy on the way to assist.
BESHEAR: And there's a mobile pharmacy on the way to assist. Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you look ahead to rebuilding I know that's, you know, right now you're just trying to still save lives and assess everything but when you look to rebuild in a way that makes sure that there are more safety structures in place in the event that work tornadoes.
BESHEAR: Right. I mean, every time we rebuild we want to be more resilient. We don't want to see this ever happen again. With that like when it's all said and done when they evaluate the power of this tornado, I think it's pretty hard to build a structure that can ultimately hold up to it.
Whether these structures have been brick or wood or steel, some of these even metal buildings, they're gone. And this tornado hit. It didn't take a roof off, which is what we've seen in the past, it exploded the whole house, people, animals, the rest just gone. So yes, we need to rebuild and be more resilient. Yes, there were a lot of warnings but this thing is so powerful that I don't think there's any blame. We're just people together trying to move forward.
[16:50:16]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor what (INAUDIBLE) you have for the number of people that were killed in this disaster, the number of people who (INAUDIBLE).
BESHEAR: We don't have a firm number on injuries, we know that hospital here, I believe saw at least 80 people in the first eight hours Bowling Green Hospital significant too. Again, on the on the death count, we know that we're going to have at least four counties that are in double digits.
Again, I think the best that we can hope for would be the 50. But I think it's going to be significantly worse than that. Remember, we're still we're still finding bodies. I mean, we've got cadaver dogs and towns that I shouldn't have to be in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But ballpark, how many people might be without home?
BESHEAR: Oh, thousands. Thousands of people without homes, we don't have an exact number of houses, because right now we're trying to count people. And that's where we have our main focus. Let me get the number of the confirmation. I get the reports and on what we have seen, but they're not confirmed until the person is fully identified. And the family is notified. Do we -- you have the confirmed number, Michael.
DOSSETT: We are not certain as is the normal progress. The Kentucky Health Department certifies that for the governor --
BESHEAR: Yes. That's best case scenario, best case scenario we're at 50 that we thought we had earlier, right? I'm not optimistic for the best case scenario. But I'm certainly going to hope for it. I know we're over ten and Warren County. We're over 10 and Growing and Hopkins County.
We have significant loss here. We're over ten in Muhlenberg in a town hundred and something people. We're -- I think we're at three to five and Caldwell. And so those numbers are going to continue to grow. It's we're able to go house to house and home to home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) has gotten on global scale from this, what do you hope people take away from seeing Kentucky news and what are resiliency of our --
BESHEAR: First, we're grateful for the outpouring of support of attention of prayers from this country and from the world. It's all we could ask for and it's just pure love. You know, one country united worried about us. What I hope they see is that we also love one another. We are good people that care about one another. We open our homes, we open our businesses as people get power on, they're reaching out to everybody else to invite them in.
The number of emergency responders are just volunteers, you know, my dad is from Dawson Springs not far from Madisonville. And the number of volunteers when I was there yesterday from Madisonville is truly special. So I hope they see a state that cares about one another that's willing to grieve with one another too but is strong enough to rebuild.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor, do you have any idea with some of the families of the factory workers will be getting some answers. We've talked to dozens who say they turned over to identifying marks and names they have averted them.
BESHEAR: Well the process and it's not a process I agree with is that the families are notified after an individual is fully identified there by the coroner or others. I think as we've seen more events like this, we just need to be more upfront about the possibilities for those families for each of them. I'm really sorry.
You're not supposed to lose people the way we've lost them these last two years and you're not supposed to lose people like this and to not know and to not have the information has got to make it that much harder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know of anyone here in this room has rising about having any people that report have been missing for the Graves County corner?
BESHEAR: Do we have a, Mayor, a report on total number of missing? Yes. It's -- and the challenges, we'll have the reports that come in. We'll try to compile and move forward. I know in Bowling Green, that's being done by some volunteers that are there that create the list in Dawson Springs it was multiple pages, single spaced, with communications down it's a real challenge right when your cell phones don't work in these communities exactly how do you find people to truly know how many are missing. And again, we're 40 hours in and just the level of devastation does make having specific numbers I know you want just difficult to have.
[16:55:05]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BESHEAR: So our school systems right now are primarily staging grounds, staging grounds where we want to get power up and going, we're sending a large generator to the Dawson Springs School, and they are truly functioning as shelter, as staging grounds. You know, it's a special place that is just as important in the midst of this. I know in these communities without power, obviously we won't have school to tomorrow and that work is -- word is going to be getting out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BESHEAR: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) previous question here, things are still seeking information (INAUDIBLE).
BESHEAR: OK, his house ministries here in Mayfield for those people we're trying to find, it's going to take time to get school systems back up and functional. And in some areas, I think it's going to happen faster than others. We talked about 18 counties, we've got some that are primarily intact that need power, need phone service, and we'll want to be back in school as quickly as we can get that for others like here. And like Dawson, it's going to take some more time, yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you mentioned yesterday, a little bit about this, but do you have any more insight (INAUDIBLE) in the candle factory when they probably hit? Where they're given -- where some given the option to leave what was communicated to them about what options they had (INAUDIBLE).
BESHEAR: Right now, I'm unaware of what was communicated to the individuals in the factory. I do know, based on accounts of those who have gotten out, and then also where we found people who haven't, that it appears most were sheltering in the place that they were told to shelter, we've heard some accounts or I have of moving to that area. I hope that area was as safe as it could be. But this thing got hit directly by the strongest tornado we could have possibly imagined.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were they sheltered in the same place?
BESHEAR: There was a -- there is a portion that I believe that they are trained to go to, and we do think many people, maybe even most people were able to get to that point. But again, this is -- this information coming from some who made it out from what we see there. We'll learn more on that as the as the days go forward. Our operation right now is recovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, what can you tell us based on your initial reaction on (INAUDIBLE). BESHEAR: I'm emotional after two days. This is the place that, I mean Dawson's a place where I'd go and I'd sit on my grandparents front porch, about two weeks a year, one at Christmas and one at the barbecue festival. They'd all sing. They tell me not to sing. And that same porch I went to check on their house. And their house is still there.
But I mean one block up and left or right is just gone just flattened. And, again, for folks that can only see the image you stand in the midst of this and everything you see, everything, right, left forward, backwards, is gone. And you can see for maybe even miles that you previously couldn't. And so it hurts but I know it doesn't hurt me nearly as much as the people who live here and they know whose house that is that's not there anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BESHEAR: So electricity is coming on in some places faster than others. It depends on the damage. I know Marshall County is coming up a little bit faster. Here in Graves County it's a work in progress. It really ends up depending on how many lines are down how significantly. It appears that work is really moving.
On the waterside, it depends on what exactly has been damaged and what it takes to operate it. I know in Dawson a generator was able to or there are they believe is able to get the pumps back going. Again in Marshall County, I think water is being restored. Again it's community by community and what it's going to take.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) can you confirm that last night into today (INAUDIBLE) Saturday at 3:30 has more bodies been pulled, recovery bodies, did you -- say count many last night (INAUDIBLE).
[16:59:53]
BESHEAR: I think we are still trying to get the most accurate information. We expect there to be in a significant death toll. We are checking on new information coming in from the company and hope to have a clearer picture on that.
