young person studio be unscripted on al jazeera. ah al jazeera with this is al jazeera ah, i'm mariam. noisy welcome to the news our life from london coming up in the next 60 minutes. more than 70 people are feared dead in kentucky. after tornadoes sweep across sick states destroying homes, factories and warehouses for ministers from the g. 7 nations are urged to show

unity against global aggressors as they meet in the u. k. uganda and congolese military say they've captured the adf rebels, destroyed camps and fried hostages, but many a still wary of the joint offensive. and the eldest daughter of pioneering us astro allen shepherd bloss off on the latest space tourism flight. aboard a rocket named off an arm sana, how much was sport, max for staff, and claims that pull position ahead of louis hamilton for the seas. and defining on p in our dubey and at the fee for our cup here in cutter. egypt to book a day that was in india in the semi finals, ah clone. welcome to the news our,

our top story. a devastating series of tornadoes has ripped through 6 us states. and what a president joe biden has called an unimaginable tragedy. he's rushing federal assistance to the worst it places like kentucky, where the governor says at least 70 people have died. dozens of fear dead in a candle factory in the town of mayfield where around a 110 people working when it was flattened. fire and police stations have also been damaged and that hampering rescue efforts were stormed left, a trail of destruction across the mid western and at southern states. algae, there is a party call. haine has more now. one town seemingly wiped away in one evening mayfield kentucky where a candle factory with 110 people inside was levelled. a trapped worker took to facebook live to plead for help and we aren't trans, please. ya, give us some help. we're at the candle that very it may you

please bring us. she got out, but the governor believes the vast majority of workers did not lose a lot alive at that facility. and i pray that there will be another rescue appraisal toby, another one or 2, but it's a very dire situation. at this point. the storms with as many as 30 tornadoes could be seen from space tornadoes that came down and stayed down, causing damage for more than 300 kilometers. this path length, i believe, when it's all said and done, we're waiting for the numbers to come in. will be a near 400 kilometer path length and very likely that this tornado will be rated violence, which means e f, or e, f 5. i'm expecting. winds tiguan speeds to be well over 200 miles per hour with this particular tornado. and it wasn't just kentucky in amazon warehouse in illinois, a nursing home in arkansas destruction in missouri and tennessee states that expect

tornadoes, but not usually in december. the national guard has been called in, and the search has started to see if there are survivors trapped underneath all of this. still, the death toll is likely to climb from this unexpected, massive and powerful storm. patty, gl haine al jazeera washington and patty joins us live now. a festival. patty, how unusual is this to see? so many tornadoes and such destruction on this level at this time of the year. it really doesn't happen. i mean, it has in history. but if you live in the area called tornado alley, you really become accustomed to the thought that you have to start worrying about tornadoes in march or april and then pretty much all the way through till june or july. because it's the warm weather, right? you have to watch off her warm weather in a cold front. it's supposed to be cold this time of year in these areas. also,

unusual is just the sheer destruction you cover tornadoes. usually even with strong tornadoes, there's one or 2 or 3 buildings. there may be more that seem to survive. it doesn't appear that anything survived in mayfield, which makes you think the, perhaps this was an e 4 e 5, that's the highest scale on the that's the strongest tornado. you can have on that scale. because if you look at that video that you just saw, it's just devastated. everything is gone. and the other unusual thing is when you have this many terminate tornadoes, we think as many as 30 tornadoes. usually what you see, the behavior of a tornado is it forms it comes to ground, causes destruction, it goes back up. it comes back down this tornado, at least the one in kentucky appears that it came down and just basically stayed down. and so that's why we're seeing a 321 kilometer march of destruction. so unusual in that it's december. this isn't supposed to happen. the size of the storm again in december you don't usually see 30 plus tornadoes all in

a couple of hours. and just the sheer size that there are 6 states now that are impacted by the so highly unusual you mentioned in your report pass either the rush to try and reach survivors, which has now been complicated by destruction, to fire and police stations in the area. what federal assistance can they expect to receive? well, we just got word that president joe biden did declare it a federal emergency. so what that means is that the federal emergency management agency can stream resources into the area that can provide loans to people whose homes have been destroyed. they can try and set up housing for them because now that it's getting dark again, the rescue is going to be that much more complicated, especially at the candle factory. the governor were say, look, there's really dangerous materials tubs that have just been knocked over. there's live wires they so there's, there's a great deal of concern about just when you start to move the debris, if there's any one trapped in there, it could collapse and it could actually kill them. so it's much more complicated

now that it's gotten dark. we expect we will hear from president joe biden in about 30 minutes, but what you're going to see is fema the federal emergency management agency. as i mentioned, they will send in, along with the national guard. they will try to get in heavy earth movie equipment . they will try and get in trailers of people as a place to live. water says ability to make water, they bring up but what they bring as of these little mobile cell phone towers. so they can re establish communications. one of the 1st things are gonna have to do those, they're gonna have to clear the roads because obviously a lot of these are very rural areas. and you don't often have more than one or 2 ways into town. so if trees are down, you have to move those. if a big semi trucks have been knocked over, you have to move those, we know the trains of derailed. so this is going to be a huge cleanup. this is just the 1st, not even the 1st day, but the focus right now is going to be on the national guard, the police, the can, the firefighters, the can going door to door to see, listen, for any sounds again, much more complicated now that it's dark out but listening for sound using some

sort of fluff flood lighting to try and see if there are people trapped in the rubble. because we know in these sorts of instances that you should try, you're more likely to find them in the 1st 24 to 48 hours if they are going to survive. so that's going to be the focus right now. thank you very much, patty and actually now which is hearing from the governor of kentucky. andy beacham a little bit more on that that hit us including one that touched down in arkansas and then stayed on the ground for 227 straight miles. which we believe is likely the longest in us history. folks, 200 of those miles were in kentucky. we're ground 0 and i know this community has hit, has been hit really hard. we were with you whole status with you about just for midnight last night that we signed signed, the state of emergency allowed us call up the national guard. now hundreds,

deploying all over kentucky to help to help go on door to door to see if we can find people to help clearing the roadways and yes, to help and law enforcement and some towns that aren't going to have any power. tonight. we've been able to get our transportation cabinet with all of our heavy trucks out on the roads clearing them off because it's hard to reach people in need . when the roads are on possible, our division of forestry is out there helping with that as well. finding any and everything we can do, including bringing some of the largest generators we've ever seen to some of these communities where they can power a school hospital where it is needed since our last stop. there are 2 new announcements at this point in the day. first, the president has signed the federal emergency disaster declaration for those who

do this work that rarely happens in the midst of a disaster. it shows how bad it is. it opens up us up to significantly more resources and things like almost immediate reimbursement for a lot of the things we're doing which is going to help our city and our counties to really do even more talk today directly to the president twice the head of homeland security the secretary and as well as the director of fema who is going to be in kentucky tomorrow they have all pledge, whatever we need. and i plan to ask. so make sure you communicate those needs to us . and we'll either satisfy them or we will go out and get them. it's getting close to night. it's getting cold. it's got to be a tough night for a lot of people across can. the 2nd new announcement is people have been asking all day. how can we help?

and we've been telling them 2 things with the 3rd coming. the 1st week, sad as if you were in a community that has been hit and hit hard and you're safe and you have power, stay off the road. let our 1st responders like the ones that we have here get to everybody. don't go to some of these areas because you want to see it. we need to make sure. busy that those who do this work that are so good at it can do it at the fastest possible speed. second, the blood were already pretty short. with cove it out there, it has been pushing. we're going to have that a lot of guess. we're also going to have a lot of, of injuries. but the 3rd is we have now been able to set up a single font connected with the state that people who want to help in kentucky or outside of it can give to that is solely dedicated to helping the on the ground efforts going on right now. in the relief efforts that these families are going to

need to rebuild that as a team. so we're just hearing there from the governor of kentucky, which is not the worst hit state in the us. this after several devastating tornadoes of torn through at 7 central and southern states in the country that have been hit by very powerful tornadoes. and really the images that we've been showing you just the sheer scale of devastation and destruction are correspond. patty saying that really, while these harkins do hit and it is a yearly, an annual thing, it never happens at this time of year. and with this level of severity and intensity, at least 70 people, a fear dead. sadly, that is expected to rise quite sharply, and that we have that governor of kentucky saying that he has already spoken to president joe biden about getting federal assistance to the area. this is complicated by the search for some i was complicated by the scale of destruction

and particularly a great deal of concern over the collapse of a candle factory where there were people working inside and, and that was in the, in the town of may feel. so we'll continue to keep across developments there. john allen is an assistant professor of meteorology at the central michigan university in the united states. says it's hard to imagine how devastating this type of event can be for a community. what was the hell is no longer there, the debris is scattered over may be the course of a mile more. and so you might just see a slab of warehouse balls and in this case we're seeing that type of damage. the debris can be transported enormous stiff distances in events like this, with st, very transported hundreds of miles downstream. people's photograph checks, landing in people's back yards well and truly away for the event. and having been

relatively close to tornadoes like joplin, missouri in 2011. the sense of just loss within the community, the us which direction to turn. i think it's one of the, the serious issues here, emergency responders in this situation. i'm going to be overwhelmed by with already had months of the pandemic and other elements related issues causing it, causing people challenges. and now we've got this event where basically every way you turn those damaged well isn't much more sill had for you. honest nissan from london. palestinians of attain local elections in the west bank and advising anger of the cancellation of national mallets. this year. tiny south pacific archipelago of new caledonia votes for a 3rd time on gaining independence from france. and if only one championship design max for staff and quantifies fastest for the wrong pri,

ah, as president joe biden is actually just speaking out out recent developments in the country like listening across 227 miles of kentucky, lou, i monitoring the situation very closely since early this morning, this is likely to one of the largest turn it off breaks in our history. earlier today, i call the governors of the states that have been experienced severe impacts. the storms include in arkansas, illinois, kentucky, missouri, as well as tennessee, and also spoke with minority leader miss mcconnell of kentucky. coming to our share and i started off the morning together and he said i was watching on television while talking to him. like all of you have and he, his comment was it looks like a war zone. but worse, jill and i pray and i'm sincerely mean this pray for those of lost love once. and

for those are uncertain of the fate of their loved ones and the debris that you see scattered all over the hurricane is past. they lost their homes and lost of businesses, and it's a tragedy. it's a tragedy. and we still don't know how many lives are lost or the full extent of the damage. but i want to emphasize what i told all the governors, the federal government will do everything. everything you can possibly do to help. i spoken several times a day with the head of fema, the federal emergency management agency, as well as the director of freeman has already been deployed, already deployed emergency response personnel to these states, search and rescue teams. water and other supplies and fema is on the ground working with each of the states to assess the damages and focus on federal support where it is needed most and how we can get there most rapidly. i also, and i apparently it was just been announced, but i also approved the emergency declaration that was requested

a couple of hours ago by governor brochure of kentucky. that's going to accelerate federal emergency assistance for kentucky right now when it's urgently needed. and i stand ready to do the same for the governors or other states and i made it clear to them if they request, emergency declarations. i've also requested that theme offer additional fed to resources including help with temporary housing, where homes have been wiped out or too badly damaged to live in. and i also asked fema director to let the states know what they may not be aware of what they may be entitled to. because they don't necessarily know all that's available from the federal end. we're going to continue to see receive i personally and receiving regular updates and my staff has continued to reach out to the mayors. the county officials and other local leaders in the states affected by the tornadoes and my heart goes out. i was told that early this morning that one of the, the equivalent of a county executive, one of the folks in kentucky,

was lost in this tornado. i want folks in all the states to know we're going to get through this. we're going to get through this together and the federal government is not going to walk away. this is one of those times when we aren't democrats or republicans. sounds like i probably, but it's real. where all americans, we stand together as united states, america. and so i said all the victims, you're in our prayers and all those 1st responders, emergency personnel and everyone helping their fellow americans. and this is the right thing to do with the right time. and we're going to get through this and i'll be happy to take a question or 2 for you having about that right with . well, all i know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impacts as a consequence of the warming planet. and the climate change the specific impact on

these specific storms. i can't say at this point, i'm going to be asking the he p a and others to take a look at that. but the fact is that we all know everything is more intense. when the climate is warming, everything, and obviously it has some impact here, but i can't give you quantitative read on that. a yes i do. i spoke with the i started off this morning with the governor, kentucky and offered to i said, i'd be happy to come, but i don't want to be in the way when a president shows up. he shows up on an awful lot of personnel. i'm awful lot of vehicles, an awful lot of waking we can get in the way unintentionally. and so what i'm working with the governor, kentucky, and others who may want me to be there as i've made and make sure that we are value added at the time. and we're not going to get in the way of the rescue in recovery . but i will play do plan on going on with well,

we'll see whatever is needed. i'm going to ask for if we don't already have the wherewithal to take care of it, i'm going to ask for, this is united states of america. our citizens are badly, badly hurt, and they're scared to death right now in terms of all those folks who they can't figure where they are. where is my son? where is my daughter? my husband, my wife, my mom, my dad is devastating. yeah. she had a question sir, are meeting with the answer is yes, if in fact the states conclude they need it. and so of the national guard has been called out on one state and but whatever is needed, it's within the authority of the president and states and the federal government to provide that help. and we're going to provide whatever is needed. i think we've demonstrated, since we've been elected that every major national disaster, we had been there early, often and stayed to we got it finished and that's what we're going to do here. but

again, i think what i've found, as i've visited these disaster areas, another circumstance whether as the hurricane, louisiana, or the gigantic flooding and northeast or the wild fires in the west is the real anxiety right now is all those poor people are wondering where is my love one, where are they? are they going to be okay? and i don't think it's i don't think it's possible, exaggerate the extent of the fear and the concern. and we have a lot of people are going and doing rescue running machines, bulldozers forklifts and the like. and, and the way which i've watched it went down. and when, when the building collapsed in florida, i watched how, how the, how it takes a price on a toll on them. god, am i gonna, my gonna lift, something's gonna move, something's gonna fix something. and so that's what i just my heart aches for those

people, right. including the rescuers, including the burden on them and what they worry about, that's what they talk to me about in florida. that's what they talked about afterwards. and so i just snaked it, we just have to keep at it. we have to keep focused. and this is going to be with the focus of my attention until we get this finished with all the help with. well, a, quite frankly, i think we're as prepared as any governors ever been for dealing with the disasters . now the question is, one of the questions is going to be raised. i'm confident is what warning was her, and was it strong enough and was it heed it? that's the question is going, i, i assume is gonna be part of the discussion in the states as well as, as, as nationally. because look, as usual, you ask always the,

the best question and you asked me about whether or not we were going to be able to what we're gonna do about how, how we're going to handle this. and part of it is acknowledging that the likelihood of fewer weather catastrophes absent a continued movement on dealing with global warming is just not going to happen. i can happen. like i said, we didn't. thank you. and i think the best example for me has been, has, are struck me the most we always had wildfires, but whom garza named thought we'd see this count a year. more territory burned the ground, every tree, every home, every road or else a larger than the state of new jersey from hudson river down to cape may.

so we have to act. but the 1st an urgent p. serious. we have to save. anyone who's still alive. we have to care for them if we can get them to hospitals, and we have to take care of all those families. the, i mean, look, i know you all, you're all pros asking questions. imagine if you're home through the path waiting a home do what do you worry about? i mean, everything's gone from that from from that, that baptism old photograph to the wedding picture to a picture of your oldest daughter in a ballet. i mean, it's as profound. it's just profound it, sir, but i promise you whatever is needed, what ever is needed? the federal government is going to find a way to supply. thank you also very,

very much for president joe biden speaking. they're saying that it's not known how many lives have been lost in the country, or indeed the extent of damage after more than 30 powerful tornadoes, hit a region of the country spending over 200 miles or a few 120 kilometers. the kentucky is the hardest hit state right now, where the governor is already indicated that 70 people have feared dead. but he said that could be that is likely to rise significantly to over a 100 people possibly even more right now. it's impossible to confirm any sort of death for casualty toll because of the level of destruction, but that number is expected to rise. many people currently on accounted for. of course one a party calhane also listening into that from washington and patty, the president, i think describing it is that this will be really the largest operation tornado operation in, in u. s. history. well,

we'll have to wait and see because we have had throughout our history some pretty damage in costly and big lots of with lots of fatalities, tornadoes. but this is very unusual because it is so big. it was so intense, it stayed on the ground for so long. there were so many tornadoes and over 5 to 6 different states. so this is very unusual. it's also unusual. is that this late on, i mean, this happened almost 24 hours ago about 20 hours ago. the death toll is really just sort of sat at 70. so we know that they've been out there since day breaks. the son started to fade now, but they've been out there since daybreak, trying to basically find survivors. and i think the governor of kentucky gave an indication of just how horrible the scene was that he said, i hope we find one or 2 people in that candle factory. but i don't think that's going to happen. and if you think about that $110.00 workers were there, they believe 40 made it out. so the likely there 70 bodies in that rubble,

and that's just one factory. so what i think you shall, joe biden do there, and he is. this is what every president does, whenever there's a disaster of this magnitude, they have to come out, they have to address the nation. joe biden, in particular, has been really trying to find something that unites this country because the corona virus actually did the opposite. so he's been saying, we have to unite in the fight against crone of iris. now we say we have to be united because this is an american tragedy. and what the president, really, i think, trends to do in these situations. we saw him do it again as he tries to really appeal to the humanity of all americans and say, look what, what happens if you come home and there's nothing. there's no pictures of baptism 0, no picture of your daughter's book ballet recital. wedding photos. you have nothing, so he's really trying to humanize it cuz i think you, especially when you look at these pictures, they're so horrible there. it's so wide spread the damage that you can tend to forget that in that little town of mayfield population, 10000 people, there's not really

a structure left. so that's 10000 people who basically thought they were going to go to sleep last night. and now their homes are gone, all of their members are gone. perhaps their jobs are no longer there and it's getting cold. they have nowhere to stay. this is a rural area. it's not like there's a whole lot of hotels down the street. so i think the president really sending the message that the federal government is on this and it's very important that the federal government handled this well. a politically we saw when fema does not do its job when it comes to hurricane katrina. it was very damaging to then president george bush. so and his poll numbers are already pretty bad. so he is going to be under intense pressure to try and make this better. but they are going to be huge challenges because fema was didn't have a heads up where they could stage trailers just outside of the damage zone. so they're gonna have to come from all over the country. you heard the governor there mentioned it's hard to get the roads cleared in a lot of these towns. it's maybe one road in into town, and if that's blocked by

a seminary tri truck that has fallen over, it's gonna take some time. so we haven't seen the death toll climb, which is somewhat unusual and very unexpected. but perhaps that's because the damage is just so severe. you heard the president say when they're going through this rebel, they are concerned that every move they make is going to collapse that structure. and if someone was alive, they might actually be killed by the rescue attempt. so, and this is happening in homes, businesses, schools, offices, factories, all over through 5 or 6 states. so it's a massive operation, and i think it's going to take quite some time before we know the full extent of this damage. thank you so much from washington. patty call hang. and joining us now from dyersburg in tennessee is vince welt. he is a storm che, so follows in documents extreme where they're event. so you are used to seeing why as far as the following events that are enormously destructive and studying them

and observing them very closely. have you seen anything like this before? no, nothing like the star before this was a pretty massive outbreak with now just saw a rule. strong tornadoes, but a couple of very strong, almost violent potentially tornadoes. and in the middle of december, this is now when we would be expecting something like this. and we have obviously that, that tornadoes are very powerful. what particularly concerns you, is it the area, the region that was hit by the, the tornado in the central and southern part of the country? or is it their intensity of their storms? ah, i would say both. ah, this is just an incredible amara there is so much energy in the atmosphere or that these storms tapped into and also it's very strange to see those kind of in the middle of the country. typically something are.