(Washington) Au moins 50 morts au Kentucky, une centaine de personnes présumées encore piégées samedi dans un bâtiment ravagé en Illinois : des tornades ont durement frappé une partie des États-Unis vendredi.
Pour l’heure, c’est dans le Kentucky, dans le centre-est du pays, que le bilan le plus lourd est à déplorer après le passage des tornades, un phénomène météorologique qui touche particulièrement les États-Unis tous les ans.
« Je crains qu’il y ait plus de 50 morts au Kentucky […], we are probably closer to 70 to 100 dead, it’s awful, ”said governor of this state Andy Beshear on Saturday at a press conference.
Several counties were devastated by the strongest tornado that traveled more than 300 kilometers in that state, he added.
The roof collapse of a particular candle-making factory “has claimed countless lives” in the town of Mayfield, he said.
“Before midnight, I declared a state of emergency,” he said, adding that search and rescue teams had been deployed in this chaos made worse by the power cuts.
Photos and videos of Mayfield, shared on social media, show gutted buildings, twisted metal, trees and bricks strewn across the streets.
PHOTO FROM THE TWITTER ACCOUNT @CHARLESPEEKWX
Mayfield homes damaged by tornado.
American channels filmed the passage of the tornadoes: black cylinders sweeping the ground, illuminated by intermittent lightning.
Further northwest, in Illinois, about 100 people, according to media reports, were trapped in a storm-ravaged Amazon warehouse. These are employees of the distribution giant who worked nights to process orders before the holiday season.
PHOTO CHRIS PHILLIPS, MAVERICK MEDIA GR VIA REUTERS
An Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois sustained significant damage.
“Mass incident”
The Collinsville Emergency Management Agency referred to “many people trapped in the Amazon warehouse” after this “mass incident”.
The emergency services worked until the early hours of Saturday to try to free these people from the installation, a third of which is nothing more than rubble.
Images from the Edwardsville Amazon warehouse, shared by U.S. news channels and social media, show much of the facility’s roof torn off, one of the walls collapsed into the building and rubble strewn across the site .
PHOTO JEFF ROBERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Amazon warehouse located in Edwardsville
Illinois Governor JB Pritzer said he addressed his “prayers to the people of Edwardsville” noting that the Illinois Police and Emergency Management Agency “are coordinating their actions closely with local officials.”
No assessment of possible victims has yet been communicated.
In a statement to local media, Amazon spokesman Richard Rocha said the “safety and well-being” of Amazon employees and partners was the “top priority” of the group.
“We are assessing the situation and will share additional information as soon as it becomes available,” he added.
In Arkansas, one person was killed and 20 were trapped in a nursing home, media reported. But rescuers managed to evacuate the trapped from the building whose structure was “virtually destroyed,” Craighead County official Marvin Day told local news channels. Another person died elsewhere in that state.
In Tennessee, at least two people have been killed in inclement weather incidents, according to an emergency management official quoted by local media.
Tornadoes also hit Missouri.
Scientists have warned that climate change is increasing the magnitude and frequency of storms already affecting the United States.