Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear grimly acknowledged the devastation of the tornadoes that hit across his state overnight as he surveyed the wreckage of a candle factory that had 110 people working in it when a tornado hit, reports the Washington Post.
“It’ll be a miracle if anyone else is found alive in it,” he said after first responders rescued 40 people and at least a dozen people remain missing. Kentucky officials have said between 70 to 100 are thought to be dead as a result of the tornadoes that spread destruction across ten counties in the state.
President Joe Biden has committed federal resources to help officials in the states impacted. “I want to emphasize that I told all the [state] governments: The federal government will do everything, everything it can possibly do to help,” Biden said. “This is one of those times when we aren’t Democrats or Republican — it sounds like hyperbole but it’s real — we’re all Americans. We stand together as United States of America. And so I say to all the victims, you’re in our prayers, and all those first responders, emergency personnel and everyone helping their fellow Americans that this is the right thing to do at the right time and we’re going to get through this.”