NewsNation

Scores still missing in Kentucky as region begins cleanup

(NewsNation Now) — At least 74 people are dead and more than 100 are still missing in Kentucky after a tornado outbreak over the weekend. 

Homeowners, volunteers, insurance adjusters and others are scrambling to pick up the pieces in Mayfield, Kentucky, a particularly hard-hit town, ahead of rain in the forecast. 


Johnnie Johnson traveled to Mayfield from his home in nearby Murray to help with the cleanup.

“I’ll be here every day for as long as it takes. I don’t care; I’m retired,” Johnson said.

More than 1,800 families in Mayfield have registered for state assistance.

East of Mayfield, at least 12 people were reported killed in and around Bowling Green.

“We’re talking about thousands of homes that no longer exist. They’re just off the face of those counties,” said Michael Dossett, director of Kentucky Emergency Management.

In nearby Bremen, a group of volunteers from Indiana came to serve meals at the local fire department.

“If we can do anything that can make their life better, then that’s what we’re going to do,” said Jim Johnson of the West Side Nut Club.

They believe they’ve already served about 1,000 people.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the state Wednesday to see the wreckage firsthand. He is set to stop by Fort Campbell, Mayfield and Dawson Springs.

In Edwardsville, Illinois, Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors are looking into whether workplace safety rules were followed after six people were killed after an Amazon warehouse collapsed after it was struck by a tornado.

OSHA workers, who have been at the site since Saturday, will have six months to complete the investigation, according to spokesperson Scott Allen.

Amazon, meanwhile, said workers at the warehouse had little time to prepare when the National Weather Service declared a tornado warning Friday night. The tornado arrived soon after, collapsing both sides of the warehouse and caving in its roof.

At least two people were killed in an Arkansas tornado that also destroyed a nursing home in Monette.

The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliates KTVI and KARK contributed to this report.