Assessing the damage of Kentucky's devastating tornadoes | DW News

Kentucky's Governor Andy Beshear said on Monday that the death toll in his state now stands at 74 after the weekend's tornadoes, but that he expects that figure to increase significantly. "Our newest estimate on deaths [...] is that we are now up to 74 Kentuckians that we have lost," Beshear said in a Monday afternoon briefing. "We expect that this death toll will continue to grow." Beshear said 109 people were still missing, "but as I look at this broken down by county ... it's way more people unaccounted for than this."

At least 14 more people were killed in other states, as dozens of wind storms tore through parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee on Friday and Saturday, flattening homes and businesses and tearing apart infrastructure and vegetation. Thousands of people, particularly in hardest-hit Kentucky, have been without heat and water and will be "for a long time," the mayor of the devastated town of Mayfield said on Monday.

Scientists have said that the unusually warm weather played a role in the devastation and that such events would become ever more common due to climate change. President Joe Biden has declared the affected areas in Kentucky a federal disaster area, paving the way for more federal relief funds. The president said Monday he plans to visit the affected areas in Kentucky on Wednesday.

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutschewelleenglish?sub_confirmation=1

For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/
Follow DW on social media:
►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deutschewellenews/
►Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwnews
►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwnews
Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https://www.youtube.com/dwdeutsch
#Kentucky #Tornado