Rescue workers continue to comb through the wreckage for survivors after a horde of tornadoes ripped through parts of the US, killing at least 70 people, as President Joe Biden blamed climate change.
The devastating outbreak, which included more than 30 tornado reports across six states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, is an extremely rare event this late into the year.
It led President Joe Biden to point to climate change for the devastation.
“All that I know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impact as a consequence of the warming of the planet and the climate change,” he said.
"The specific impact on these specific storms, I can't say at this point. I'm going to be asking the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and others to take a look.”
Hundreds of buildings collapsed, thousands of trees were uprooted while a freight train was thrown off its track.
One tornado, being called the 'Quad-State Tornado' ripped across four states in four hours, slamming communities such as Mayfield, Kentucky and Monette, Arkansas, which were two of the hardest-hit towns.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll was now “north of 70” and “it may in fact end up exceeding 100”.
“This will be, I believe, the deadliest tornado system to ever run through Kentucky,” he added.
“It is indescribable. The level of devastation is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
The outbreak killed people who were working the Friday night shifts at a candle factory in Mayfield. About 110 people were inside and so far 40 have been rescued.
Elsewhere, at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, at least six people were killed.
Officials said they did not know how many workers at the warehouse were unaccounted for but that they expected recovery efforts to continue for two more days.
The storm was so powerful that a family photo from a Kentucky home was found more than 150 miles away in Indiana and hundreds of thousands of people still remain without power.
President Biden said his administration would do “everything it can possibly do to help” those states affected.
“This is likely to be one of the largest tornado outbreaks in our history,” he said, adding that he had approved the emergency declaration that was requested by Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky.
Biden said he planned to travel to the affected area, once he had been assured that his visit was “not going to get in the way of the rescue and recovery.”
