Kentucky tornadoes: Governor says it will be ‘a miracle’ if anyone else pulled from crumbled factory

Associated Press photographer Mark Humphrey captured a touching moment amid this weekend’s tornado devastation.

He snapped a photo as rescue worker Chris Buchanan used dog treats to coax a large pup named Cheyenne out of a pile of rubble.

The damage on the ground wasn’t the only unprecedented about the Quad-State Tornadoes. So was the climate crisis fueling it, according to meteorologists and climate activists.

“The extreme and deadly future we keep warning you about is already here,” said climate activist Alexandria Villaseñor on Twitter on Saturday.

Here’s how CBS meteorologist Jeff Berardelli explained the climate link to this weekend’s storms.

In addition to giving to the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund established by the Kentucky government, many are turning to crowdfunding site GoFundMe to send aid money directly to those affected by the Quad-State Tornadoes.

Here’s a list of verified campaigns. Concerned Americans have already donated tens of thousands of dollars to many individual families.

The tornadoes that tore across four states this weekend may have produced the single longest twister in US history.

The cluster, now being called the “Quad-State Tornado,” spawned more than 30 different tornadoes that traveled across six different states, including one tornado that may have traveled more than 230 miles alone.

Wondering how to help those impacted by the recent tornadoes?

Kentucky governor Andy Beshear has established the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund, which has raised nearly $1 million since Saturday.

Twitter user Katie Posten is seeking help from the public, after finding what she believes is a photo from 1942 lost in the recent tornadoes.

She came upon the photograph stuck to a window in New Albany, Indiana. The picture features writing on the back that appears to say “Gertie Swatzell” and “JD Swatzell” on the back.

Dramatic drone footage has captured the extent of the chaos and devastation left behind by the powerful storm in Kentucky and five neighbouring states of Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The video, which played out on national television and was recorded by Emmy award-winning independent photojournalist and storm chaser Brandon Clement, showed thousands of homes that were decimated over many acres across the state.

“The most intense damage I have found in [Mayfield],” he tweeted, sharing a video in which everything, from trees to shrubs, to homes, was uprooted by the storm. “The entire path in the town is less than 2 [per cent] of the total path length. Homes with only slabs remaining.”

The Independent’s Namita Singh has the details.

At least six Amazon employees died on Friday after a warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, was struck by a tornado. The deaths have put the company under new scrutiny for its history of sometimes preventing workers from keeping their mobile phones with them on the job.

The Illinois facility, not far from St Louis, Missouri, suffered immense damage during this weekend’s multi-state cluster of tornadoes. Roughly 150 yards of the building collapsed in on itself.

An Amazon worker at a nearby facility told Bloomberg the collapse had raised doubts over whether Amazon’s policies, which have sometimes required workers to keep their phones in their cars or lockers while on the job, did enough to ensure their safety.

The six Amazon employees who died when a tornado tore through a warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois have been identified.

Austin McEwen, 26, Deandre Morrow, 28, Clayton Lynn Cope, 29, Etheria Hebb, 34, Larry Virden, 46, and Kevin Dickey, 62, all died when the warehouse caved in.

Officials have said that the fire department is still working at the site to clear debris and is communicating with Amazon to “account for all of their personnel”.

Search efforts will carry on “to ensure that there are no additional victims”.

Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford said on Saturday that “estimates are that the recovery portion of the incident will take about three more days”.