Deadly U.S. Tornado Toll Not as High as Initially Feared
Many people once feared dead had returned home but were unreachable due to a loss of power or communications.
Emergency workers search through what is left of the Mayfield Consumer Products Candle Factory in Mayfield, Kentucky.
Photographer: John Amis/AFP/Getty Images
Mayfield, Ky. (AP) -- Residents of Kentucky counties where tornadoes killed dozens of people could be without heat, water or electricity in frigid temperatures for weeks or longer, state officials warned Monday, as the toll of damage and deaths came into clearer focus in five states slammed by the swarm of twisters.
Kentucky authorities said the sheer level of destruction was hindering their ability to tally the damage from Friday night's storms. At least 88 people — including 74 in Kentucky — were killed by the tornado outbreak that also destroyed a nursing home in Arkansas, heavily damaged an Amazon distribution center in Illinois and spread its deadly effects into Tennessee and Missouri.