Tornadoes in the United States: the death toll rises to at least 88, a hundred employees of a factory found alive
Steph Deschamps / December 14, 2021
Kentucky officials expressed relative relief Monday that about 100 employees of a candle factory destroyed by one of the devastating tornadoes that ravaged the southern and central United States were found alive.
The MCP candle factory, in the small devastated town of Mayfield, was the object of all worries: this modern building, where 110 employees were supposed to be on Friday evening, had been transformed by the elements into a tangle of twisted beams and metal sheets, giving rise to fears of a very heavy toll.
But the company, after a frantic search through the rubble, was able to confirm that 94 of its employees were alive and accounted for, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced Monday morning.
Three days after the disaster, during which thirty tornadoes spread devastation across the southern and central United States, Governor Beshear also announced Monday afternoon that at least 74 residents had lost their lives in Kentucky alone.
He also announced at the press briefing that 109 were still missing in state.
The victims are aged from 5 months to 86 years, he said in the morning, very moved, warning that it may be necessary to wait weeks before having a definitive assessment of the dead and damage.
In addition, 14 deaths were recorded in the neighboring states of Tennessee (4), Illinois (6), Missouri (2) and Arkansas (2) as this exceptional weather phenomenon affected six states.