The youngest victim of the tornado was identified as Kentucky, the death toll increased to 64 people
Governor Andy Beshear said at least 64 people, including two infants, were killed in the devastating tornado that made landfall in Kentucky on Friday.
He expects the total death toll to continue to rise.
It could take a week or even more before we have final numbers, the governor said in a press conference Monday.
Of the 64 confirmed deaths, 18 have yet to be identified. There are also at least 105 people in the state who are not responsible.
Beshear choked up during the press conference, sharing that among the dead were a 5-month-old baby and five other children under the age of 18. The oldest person to die is now 86 years old.
“I’m really sorry,” Beshear said. ‘You’re not allowed to lose people like this, and not knowing and not having information has made it that much more difficult.’
Not included in Beshear’s count was a two-month-old baby who died Monday after sustaining a stroke in the jugular veins.
Doug and Jackie Koon gathered with their daughter and two sons in the bathtub, trying to protect them from passing tornadoes. They were staying at Jackie’s mother’s house trying to stay safe together.
The parents shared the tragic news in a Facebook post on Monday, saying that their two-month-old daughter, Oaklynn, had passed away.
In a Sunday interview with MSNBCDoug described finding his family members in the rubble and debris as ‘the most traumatic thing I’ve ever experienced.’
“I feel like I’m powerless to protect my child against it,” he said as his daughter struggled to overcome her heartbreak.
Oaklynn was hospitalized for two days after a tornado tore through her family’s Dawson Springs home. Her head was surprisingly swollen and the veins in her neck were badly injured, potentially causing a stroke.
‘At least I know who’s going to watch you up there for me. My father. My God, this doesn’t seem real,” the post said.
The White House announced that President Joe Biden will travel to Kentucky on Wednesday to survey storm damage.
He will first travel to Ft. Campbell gave a news conference about the storm, and then headed to Mayfield and Dawson Springs, two areas hard hit by the tornadoes.
The president signed an emergency declaration for Kentucky and ordered his administration to provide all resources to officials in all six states affected by the storm.
“We’ll be there for as long as we need help,” Biden said at a news conference.
The tornado, which was part of a series of tornadoes that tore through six states over the weekend, destroyed a Kentucky candle factory, multiple homes, as well as multiple police and fire stations.
Kentucky was by far the hardest hit Friday night by 30 tornadoes tore through the Midwest, killing 14 others in Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.
Six of those killed in other states were Amazon warehouse workers in Edwardsville, Illinois, who is trapped in the experiment center. The Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Kentucky let workers make candles Friday night when a tornado swept outside, resulting in the deaths of eight workers. Another tornado crushed a nursing home in Arkansas, killing two people.
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https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/13/youngest-tornado-victim-identified-as-kentucky-death-toll-climbs-to-64-15766433/ The youngest victim of the tornado was identified as Kentucky, the death toll increased to 64 people
