KY. GOV. SAYS DEATH TOLL COULD EXCEED 100

Gov. Andy Beshear said it’s likely the death toll will exceed 100 from the tornadoes that struck Western Kentucky overnight Friday into Saturday morning. That would make it the deadliest tornado in state history.

List of deadliest tornadoes in US since 1900

— 695 deaths. March 18, 1925, in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

In his second press conference of the day on Saturday, he said four different tornadoes touched down by Saturday morning, leaving a path of destruction that was more than 220 miles long before it reached Breckinridge County. Beshear traveled to Mayfield and was also going to Hopkins County on Saturday.

Fatalities will be reported in Graves, Marshall, Warren and Hopkins counties and maybe more, he said.

Earlier estimates of 50 to 70 people dying will be surpassed, Beshear said. “I’m now certain that number is north of 70,” he said on Saturday. “It may, in fact, end up exceeding 100 before the day is done."

A candle plant in Mayfield where 110 were inside when the tornado hit the town around 10:30 p.m. EST may be at least half the total. Forty were rescued as of 3 a.m. Saturday but when asked if others could be saved, Beshear became emotional, saying he hopes a few more can be saved but the devastation was unlike anything he had ever seen.

“We’re gonna lose a lot of lives in that facility,” Beshear said. “I pray that there will be another rescue. I think the largest loss of life in this tornado event is and will be there.”

The deadliest tornado in state history came in Jefferson County in 1890 when 76 Kentuckians lost their lives, according to the National Weather Service. This tornado is the worst since the super outbreak in 1974 when 70 were killed.

“This has been one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history,” Beshear said. “And some areas have been hit in ways that are hard to put into words. To all of our Kentucky families that are impacted by this, we want you to know that we are here for you, we love you, we are praying for you.”

Emergency shelters have been set up in high schools in the area and others are already staying with family, Beshear said.

There was also widespread damage in Bowling Green and a Western Kentucky University student who was scheduled to graduate Saturday died, WKU President Timothy Caboni said. The number of those hurt or killed was not yet known with first responders still working to find people under wreckage, a Bowling Green police spokesman said.

The extent of the damage is also still being assessed, but the storm that leveled the TMS Automotive building in the Transpark and damaged many neighboring factories is clearly one of the worst in recent memory.

"Over the years we've had many natural disasters but never anything with quite this much destruction," Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon, who has been in office for nearly 30 years, told The Daily News. "This is the worst I've seen in terms of damage to structures."

WKU and Murray State cancelled graduation ceremonies that were supposed to take place Saturday.

Beshear declared a state of emergency and activated 181 members of the Kentucky National Guard for extraction and debris clearance.

The governor has already asked for federal assistance. He has the support of Kentucky's federal delegation who sent a joint letter Saturday to President Joe Biden