Update: As of Monday morning, Kentucky has confirmed 64 deaths from the weekend's tornadoes. Gov. Andy Beshear said that "undoubtedly there will be more," per CNN, perhaps as many as 80. He added that 105 residents of the state remain unaccounted for. Some of the fatalities occurred in a candle factory, though the toll there will apparently not be as high as originally feared. Our original story from Sunday follows:
The swarm of tornadoes that tore through six states Friday was feared to have left more than 100 dead in Kentucky, the hardest-hit state, but Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday the death toll could end up being closer to 50. That's partially due to some good news at the candle factory where 110 people were working at the time: While originally concerned many of those employees remained unaccounted for, Mayfield Consumer Products now says that more than 90 of them have been located. Another eight were indeed killed, and eight are still missing, the AP reports. Rescue teams continue to search for those eight, Reuters reports, but by Sunday it had been more than 24 hours since anyone was found alive in the wreckage.
Autumn Kirks was at work at the candle factory with her boyfriend, Lannis Ward, and they were just 10 feet apart in a hallway when they heard someone say to take cover. The next thing she knew, Kirks says, a wall was ripped away and Ward was simply "gone." She later found out he had died. "It was indescribable," a local pastor says of the devastation, which took place during the company's holiday rush. "It was almost like you were in a twilight zone. You could smell the aroma of candles, and you could hear the cries of people for help. Candle smells and all the sirens is not something I ever expected to experience at the same time." At least six people were killed in Illinois, four in Tennessee, two in Arkansas, and two in Missouri. (The victims in Illinois worked at an Amazon warehouse.)
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