Cries and candle scents: Over 100 feared dead after twisters

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Workers connected the nighttime displacement astatine Mayfield Consumer Products were successful the mediate of the vacation rush, cranking retired candles, erstwhile a tornado closed successful connected the mill and the connection went out: “Duck and cover.”

Autumn Kirks pulled down her information googles and took shelter, tossing speech wax and fragrance buckets to marque room. She glanced distant from her boyfriend, Lannis Ward, and erstwhile she looked back, helium was gone.

On Sunday, helium was among scores of radical missing and feared dormant successful the rubble of the factory.

With Kentucky’s politician informing that the state’s decease toll from the tornado outbreak Friday nighttime successful Mayfield and different communities could transcend 100, Kirks and others waited successful agony for quality of their loved ones portion the rescue effort grew bleaker by the hour.

“Not knowing is worse than knowing close now,” she said. “I’m trying to enactment strong. It’s precise hard close now.”

Forty of the 110 radical who were wrong the mill were pulled retired soon aft the twister struck, authorities said. Rescuers had to crawl implicit the dormant to get to the surviving astatine a catastrophe country that smelled similar scented candles.

But by the clip churchgoers gathered Sunday greeting to commune for the lost, much than 24 hours had elapsed since anyone had been recovered alive. Instead, crews recovered pieces of peoples’ lives — a backpack, a brace of shoes and a cellphone with 27 missed messages were among the items.

“It’ll beryllium a occurrence if we propulsion anybody other retired of that. It’s present 15 feet heavy of alloy and cars connected apical of wherever the extortion was,” Gov. Andy Beshear said connected CNN. “Just tough.”

Kentucky was the worst-hit authorities by acold successful an antithetic mid-December swarm of twisters crossed the Midwest and the South that leveled full communities and near astatine slightest 14 radical dormant successful 4 different states.

“I tin archer you from reports that I’ve received I cognize we’ve mislaid much than 80 Kentuckians. That fig is going to transcend much than 100,” Beshear said.

Four twisters deed the authorities successful all, including 1 with an extraordinarily agelong way of astir 200 miles (322 kilometers) long, authorities said.

“I’ve got towns that are gone, that are just, I mean gone. My dad’s hometown — fractional of it isn’t standing,” Breshear said of Dawson Springs.

He said that going doorway to doorway successful hunt of victims is retired of the question successful the hardest-hit areas: “There are nary doors.” With day precocious temperatures forecast lone successful the 40s, tens of thousands of radical were without power, and astir 300 National Guard members were going location to house, checking connected radical and helping to region debris.

Kirks said she and her fellow were astir 10 feet isolated successful a hallway erstwhile idiosyncratic said to instrumentality cover. Suddenly, she saw entity and lightning wherever a partition had been, and Ward had vanished.

“I retrieve taking my eyes disconnected of him for a second, and past helium was gone. I don’t cognize wherever helium went, don’t person immoderate idea,” she said.

Kirks was astatine a ministry halfway wherever radical gathered to question accusation astir the missing.

“It was indescribable,” Pastor Joel Cauley said of the catastrophe scene. “It was astir similar you were successful a twilight zone. You could odor the aroma of candles, and you could perceive the cries of radical for help. Candle smells and each the sirens is not thing I ever expected to acquisition astatine the aforesaid time.”

The tornado that carved the way of demolition successful Kentucky touched down for an bonzer and perchance record-breaking region of much than 200 miles (320 kilometers). Eleven radical were reported killed successful and astir Bowling Green alone.