More than 100 still missing after Kentucky tornadoes; death toll stands at 74, Gov. Beshear said
- At least 100 people, and probably many more, remain unaccounted for, Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters on Tuesday. The death toll remains at 74 for now, he said.
- President Joe Biden plans to visit the state on Wednesday and survey the damage.
- Over 1,000 homes were destroyed and over 28,000 homes and businesses were still without power on Monday.
The death toll in Kentucky stands at 74 following a string of devastating tornadoes that hit the state on Friday. At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters that the death toll had not risen since Monday.
"If there's good news, it's that our death count has not gone up since yesterday," the governor said.
He added that the ages of those killed range from two-months-old to 98-years-old.
Still, at least 100 people, and probably many more, remain unaccounted for, Beshear told reporters on Tuesday.
"With this amount of damage and rubble, it may be a week or even more before we have a final count," he said.
President Joe Biden is planning to visit the state on Wednesday. "It's just devastating," the president said Monday of the damage in Kentucky and six surrounding states. On Sunday, he declared a major federal disaster in the state, unlocking federal aid and resources.
Over 1,000 homes in Kentucky were destroyed by the tornadoes, and on Tuesday about 24,000 businesses and homes still lacked power.
More than 560 National Guardsmen were assisting Tuesday with rescue operations and debris removal in the state, and Beshear said he still did not know the extent, or cost, of the damage.
"I don't have yet an estimate on damages, but it's in the hundreds of millions of dollars at least," Beshear said on Monday.
The president also approved federal aid for Tennessee to supplement local efforts to assess the damage and recover. Four people died as a result of the tornadoes in that state.
Many on Monday cited the unprecedented nature of the tornadoes — both their severity and the fact that they occurred so late in the year — with some blaming climate change for the surprise weather event. Beshear told reporters that four tornadoes formed in Kentucky alone and one touched down for over 200 miles, destroying almost everything in it's path.
"We can't say with absolute certainty that it was because of climate change," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.
"What is certain," he added, "[Is] it is one of the worst tornado disasters we've had in the country. And, the second thing that's certain is that it is unusual. It is unusual how it happened, how many places it touched down and the length of the path."