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Kentucky hit by tornado faces long recovery time

POSSIBLE, TERRIBLE. – Workers, volunteers and members of the National Guard have spread out across tornado-damaged areas of Kentucky to assist with remediation tasks ranging from replacing thousands of downed power poles damage to the distribution of drinking water bottles.

The tornado that broke out on Friday killed at least 88 people in five states – 74 of them in Kentucky – cutting off the path of damage that stretched from Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed, to Illinois, where an Amazon distribution center was badly damaged .

In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll could rise as authorities continue to work around debris that slows recovery efforts. Nearly 450 National Guard members have been mobilized in the state, and 95 of them are conducting death searches.

“With this amount of damage and wreckage, it could be a week or more before we have a final death toll,” the governor said.

Kentucky authorities say the sheer extent of the devastation is hampering their ability to tally the damage.

As searches continue for those still missing, efforts have also turned to repairing the power grid, sheltering those whose homes have been destroyed and providing supplies.

According to the governor, a fund set up by the state has raised US$6 million. Kentucky First Lady Britainy Beshear launched a Christmas toy drive for children affected by the storm. She is asking for unpacked $25 toys, books and gift cards to be distributed to families in need.

Across the state, about 26,000 homes and businesses are without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, including nearly all homes in Mayfield. More than 10,000 homes and businesses were without water as of Monday, and another 17,000 people were being advised about boiling water, Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett told reporters.

State and local officials say it could take years for some of the worst-affected areas to fully recover.

“Again, this isn’t going to be a one-week or one-month operation, guys. This is going to go on for years to come. This is a huge event,” Dossett said.

There were five bends that hit Kentucky, including one that was about 200 miles (320 km) long, authorities said.

In addition to the Kentucky deaths, the tornadoes also killed at least six people in Illinois, where the Amazon distribution center in Edwardsville was affected; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas, where nursing homes were destroyed and the governor said workers covered residents with their own bodies; and two in Missouri.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Monday that it has opened an investigation into the Amazon warehouse collapse in Illinois.

Mayfield, home to 10,000 people, suffered some of the heaviest damage. Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees covered the ground in the city. Sheets of metal were twisted, power lines were down, and wrecked vehicles littered the streets. Windows were blown out and roofs were ripped from buildings that were still standing.

Not far from Mayfield, a church serving as a shelter in Wingo said it expected to receive more than 100 people on Monday night.

Glynda Glover, 82, said she didn’t know how long she would stay at Wingo shelter: Her apartment was uninhabitable because the wind blew out the windows and covered her bed with glass and asphalt.

“I’ll stay here until we get back to normal,” she said, “and I don’t know what normal is.”

On the outskirts of Dawson Springs, another town ravaged by storms, houses were reduced to rubble and trees fell, dotting the landscape for a period of at least a mile. Jack Whitfield Jr., Hopkins County executive-judge, estimated that more than 60% of the town, including hundreds of homes, “cannot be repaired.”

“It looks like a bomb went off. It was only completely destroyed in areas,”

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Schreiner reports from Dawson Springs, Kentucky. Associated Press writer Rebecca Reynolds of Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.

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