moving forward finding solutions. this is abc. the news michael strahan and five other people successfully lift off to space and return back to earth. good morning. it's saturday december 11th. you're watching abc 7 news at 8 am life. on abc 7 hulu live and wherever you stream i'm liz kreutz, and we do have a lot to get to this morning breaking news of tornadoes in the midwest. we know l u he beehiin just real devastatn there this morning. yeah after the trip of a lifetime. countdown to christmas is on we've got the sweet the midwest

from kentucky to arkansas with over 50 tornadoes. and in fact the length of this was about 200 miles wide, so 200 miles long and a mile wide. so as we look at our own weather, it seems pretty calm as we have just a few clouds moving into the region today, but starting out clear and cool as our freeze warning is about expires so it's been frosty but as we look a golden gate bridge looks like a nice looking saturday with 30s to low 30s and mountain view 34 and a half moon bay mountain. report. hello everyone. tj holmes here reporting from abc news in new york and we are coming on the air here to get an update about what was a devastating and possibly even historic night of devastation around a number of states in the us with a tornado outbreak that has devastated a number of areas

including arkansas, missouri, tennessee, kentucky in particularly where we're expecting to hear from the governor of kentucky. just a moment expecting a live. conference governor bashir there did say earlier and the day that he believes that at least 50 and maybe upwards of 70 to a hundred people have died in a tornado outbreak in particular in mayfield that has been devastated that is in the extreme southwest corner of the state of kentucky. there was a candle factory there where they believe that possibly dozens of people may have died. this is a tornado with this one in particular the mayfield tornado that many are referring to there are preliminary reports according to our rob marciano our meteorologist here at abc news a preliminary reports of this tornado possibly being on the ground. for some 200 miles e update live here in just a moment. our elwyn lopez has been reporting for us. she is on the ground in the area elwyn is on the line with me now elle when i sell your note earlier email, you said you couldn't simply believe what you

were seeing on the ground. hey tj. yeah, that's right. i mean we were seeing people who are waking up to what's left behind and the devastation here is legible one woman who says she's been living here for 67 years and she has never seen anything like this in her lifetime a lot of people there were the steady stream of cars of people just coming into the town to see what's left behind. i spoke to a pharmacy owner. he's had his belt building since the 1990s and has that there's nothing left of it and now he's just rushing to pick up the pieces of that and hopefully have something in place. he tells me for his patients by monday because he to be able to serve them and get them their prescriptions that they needed their medication, but this is something that i can tell you just driving in. we were in the pitch black a darkness trying to make it to our live shot location, and you couldn't see anything but ambulance lights and first responders life and that was everywhere. that's the only way we were able

to see where we were going that and the lights from our car, but it just shows you that this all happens in mark people or sleeping when this happens making it even more dangerous and now they're trying to pick up the pieces. we know search and rescue crews are still out there right now as we speak elwyn. thank you. we continue to see some of these pictures the daylight as often in these cases begin to show the real reach of the devastation. you're seeing the live picture on your left there. that's the room there in mayfield. we're expecting this live press conference and to get an update from governor bashir. he is in the room. they're waiting to get started in just a moment and we will get the update from him rob marciano. is on the line with me now and rob i saw your note as well in our email and try help me with some perspective here on what we're talking about. i know you said preliminary reports of a possible tornado on the ground for 200 miles, but give me an idea with the pictures you're seeing and the devastation we're talking about and put in some context of something like that being possible a tornado being on the

ground for an extended period time and that type of distance. well, tj, we often think of tornadoes happening only in tornado alley only during the spring but we but we what we're learning or what we what we've known for a while with the public is is beginning to see in the media more is that we have we have a lot of tornadoes in the fall and early winter as well. the jet stream gets stronger and it can support these big tornadoes and can support them living longer on the ground. we've seen long track tornadoes as as long as 200 plus miles on the ground before so this wouldn't be unprecedented, but it's certainly would be rare and it's certainly would be rare for december and to get what looks to me. from seeing me pictures and the radar signatures last night. this looks to be you know, at least in the f3 if not any f4 tornado and you know, the scale goes to five being the worst that would make it one of the stronger tornadoes in history

and in kentucky and december, but that's rabbi we're apologize for interrupting you here but govern year is stepping to the podium here for the update? let's listen to the governor of kentucky for your incredible heroic work over the last. 12 or more hours. this has been the most devastating tornado event in our state's history. and for those that seen it. what it's done here and grace county and elsewhere it is indescribable. the level of devastation is unlike anything i have ever seen you see parts of industrial buildings roofs or sightings in trees if trees are lucky enough. stand huge metal poles bentes bs half if not broken buildings that are no longer there huge trucks that have been picked up and thrown. and satellite far too many homes.

the people were likely in entirely devastated. this will be i believe the deadliest tornado system to ever run through kentucky now earlier this morning at about 5 am. we were pretty sure that we would have we would lose over 50 kentuckians. i'm now certain that that number is north of 70 it may in fact end up exceeding a hundred before the day is done. the damage is even worse now that have first light a couple of places have been hit incredibly hard. certainly mayfield here in grace county, but everywhere along the line. of this tornado touchdown stayed down for 227 miles over 200 in kentucky has been severely and significantly impacted. i've been on the phone with now nearly every county judge in areas that have been impacted. we have pledged our full

support. i have talked to the secretary of homeland security while i have been here. he has pledged his full support and we are hearing that from every part of the federal. administration and from our us senators and from our congressman kentucky is united today behind the people of western, kentucky. we want to be here to help dig out. help make rescues to help provide when people are suffering and then to help rebuild. this is not a one-day thing. now, this is one state and we will stand united to make sure that we can lift our families back up. but please know that there are a lot of families that need your prayers. prayers that somebody may be found. more prayers to help them through the grieving process. dawson springs up the road also hit incredibly hard. that's where i'll be headed next. i want to call on a number of people today to give you an idea

of different things that we are doing. i can tell you that the state of emergency was put into place last night before midnight. the national guard is deployed and will be in communities very shortly and that is now going to be augmented. we need more individuals in the field. we're going to hear from our adjutant general in in a minute. but first i want to turn it over to jesse. judge here who has been working really hard and then we'll hear from the mayor and then we'll move to emergency management national guard will hear from the transportation cabinet and what they're doing state police and others judge. together probably the toughest day of my life right here. when you when you run for office. you don't know what to expect.

but when you say your communities and your county and this kind of situation it's tough. it's tough on our our community the communities it's tough on our families. you know last night i was with my family. and i was watching we were watching this storm. and we were watching noah and trent. with the weather local 6 and and know those folks did a really good job of informing of what was going to happen. and but i had a hairy feelingry about it. i can tell you that i didn't really feel good about it. and as this thing was as the governor said for the 200 miles it was on the ground watching it head toward graves county. you know that the it was a it wi

reality at that time. so the only thing i can say to you all. at this time what we need from everyone as we need your prayers. need your help. the governorovernorovernorovernr state local everyone so many surrounding counties judge climber is here with us our adjoining county. our local officials right now you want to know? heroes, are they are out here in the the trenches taking trying to find people that's what they're doing right now. and they don't ask for nothing. they just want to resolve the situation and help somebody. there are people coming from all over the country here right now. we are very blessed with what w with what we're having with the help and the situation.

our sheriff's department and i do i'm not going to start naming folks our police department our fire departments our volunteer fire departments our ms. or hospitals are health departments so many are out there right now and and they're going through and you know, what's you we're all here and right now they're still streets and roads that are blocked people needing help. so i ask you prayer prayer prayer, please pray for these folks. we they will need supplies the governor's helping with his administration to help get supplies in here to graves county but what i'm saying to you is if you if you just need somebody might just need someone to talk to right now mayfield high school. there's 50 people waiting to go somewhere. they have nowhere to go. they just need somebody to talk to and we are in this warm room right now. so just realize that there are people still cold the temperatures going to drop

tonight. so it we're going to be in a situation there. we have no water here in graves county that affects a lot of the rural area in graves county. we're going to work through that with maple water and electric and a lot of our utilities. the power is out mayor for several miles around the city. there again, i'm asking for each and every one of you to pray for our community. thank you. about mayfield and graves county? quickly, my answer is the people. and what's happening today is exactly what we do best. we have been hit our commonwealth has been hit people. we love have lost loved ones his heart. our hearts are broken. because the people that we work with the people that we know our families are hurting. so i echo what judge perry has just said i've heard from so many mayors across the

commonwealth and people i went to high school with and college with what can we do? what can we do and right now what we need from people who aren't standing in this room and directing other people. it's just to pray for us and we will we will be fine. it's gonna take us while we will be fine. but today we're going to focus on those who who have lost so much. and that's where our hearts are with them who have lost the people they love and the property and the way they make a living so pray for us stand with us and we will become out stronger because of this. thank you. next we'll hear dawson from emergency management. we have an incredible team locally here augmented by the i've watched it all firsthand being in the emergency operations center since about one o'clock this morning and hearing the reports, but also the response come in and real time. i believe within the hour or so. we will have a federal disaster declaration.

i've been assured that by the secretary of homeland security and folks at the white house. it's going to let us be reimbursed quicker. it's going to bring some additional resources here. we will see. resources coming in to this area to respond to this disaster. i believe that we've ever seen director dawson. thank you governor, and my first comments are to those we of families of those we have lost my sincere. most sincere hope for a spe for recovery will be with you for weeks months and years in this fight. already, you've seen neighbors helping neighbors. that's what kentucky do. thank you to the judge and to the mayor. we're here with federal support and staff support as the governor indicated. we have the kentucky transportation cabinet already on the ground. the national guard is here the

governor spoken this morning with dan criswell. she was the team administrator. already in progress on the highway is a fema use our team which will assist graves with the search and rescue at the the plant. we have a power assistance package coming generators that can power up to. a facility as large as a hospital. we have an imat team. these are incident management teams that organize the entire effort for weeks. we have an incident support team, which will come right here in graves county and assist in organizing the search and rescue efforts. i want to thank louisville jefferson county metro ema came down. out on the road within two hours and they've brought assets from pleasured park and they're going to be staying for several days. and thank you most of all to all the first responders you are the true heroes you are out while the wind was still blowing and

the thunderstorms were passing through in the squall lines were here. so thank you for that. we're also looking at as the governor indicated. we're asking fema for immediate. reimbursement for category a and category b damages many of you know what that is and that will will be an immediate process. we have teams from kentucky emergency management. we're sending an imt team down here as early as tomorrow. so the resources are flowing we have water on the road. i know your water system was destroyed including the tower. we also have just had a generous offer from walmart to start doing drop shipment. of water and will continue with that. we're here to help you and again any support that you need don't hesitate to call the state eoc through tracy. thank you.

some outside the region maybe even outside the state are already asking how they can help we are working right now on setting up a direct fund that's going to be i believe called the western kentucky tornado relief fund that we're going to be able to accept help into and direct it here in the ways that it's needed the most and to be able to be flexible with the leadership here. that is in-process, but i hope hope everybody can see that. this whole state this whole state is with this area. you don't just have the governor in the head of all emergency management. we have the head of our kentucky national guard which deploys at all of our our largest he's here to witness it. and we're already staging operations. and what about eight counties or close to it with requests still coming in so general amberton?

thank you governor, and just to share with everybody here at this junction literally as i speak and as the governor insinuated, we've got guardsmen from other communities that are enroute to the graves county right now. the these folks are coming to assist with everything from search and rescue and i've been able to speak with both the police. fit into the fire chief is well, and we've identified some of the the concerns as far as security needs as a result of the damage. it's been done at this junction. so some of the guardsmen that we've got showing up who also be coming into address that we've got representatives from our unit up in paducah and he's serving quite simply as kind of a liaison right now to get kind of a that's kind of what the needs are he's leading right now. those needs

said? what's this one? there we go. apparently all i do is pick it up. just wanted to be here that you are tracking what i was saying. so so is redundant at this junction, but the liaisona just mentioned so he's feeding back to his unit in paducah what some of the other situations pertinents where we to the guard can assist with and folks will be coming forward from his unit as well what we're tracking this in our jock our joint operations center. that's up in frankfort. they're working with the folks out of the eoc the emergency operations center to coordinate all of the support coming to you and prioritize what weather it's a civilian agency and emergency support function or a national guard asset. that it serves the community here and will maintain that a

contact chief to be sure that we're addressing whatever you and your folks identify on the ground. thank you. i think as of deployed a little over 180 national guardsmen. we are increasing that number as as more requests come in also trying to use our armories in different areas like taylor county and others as a place. of refuge for people. i know one of the big challenges is debris removal, so i wanted us to be able to hear from the transportation cabinet that i know is working with so many folks here. i know i think we're going to hear we got more than 50 people that are out there right here in the area and i've said if there are any other it's time to get them in their vehicle. thankthank so just to give you a brief overview of the transportation cabinet here and district one. we covered the 12 westernmost

counties. so as this storm passed across western kentucky, it impacted five of our 12 counties fulton hickman graves marshall and lyon counties and so in those counties specifically we have our internal crews there out on all of our state routes as well as the county routes that intersect those state rout. through the swath of the storm utilizing loaders backhoes track loaders dozers excavators chainsaws and manpower right here alone in the city of mayfield. we have approximately 20 folks that are from other crews and from other counties assisting our graves county crew and then all together in graves county. we have about 40 folks helping assist with state route city routes. we've been in conjunction with the chief of police here the that works director the mayor the state police coordinating our efforts on every route. there is within the city of mayfield total in totality. we have approximately 170

employees across our district one that are out in some capacity addressing this particular storm. and again, we have every large piece of equipment that we have at our disposal in operation currently. chief or chief do you? offer anything additional you're welcome to i wanted to make sure we had an opportunity to hear directly from them. they've been doing this work through the night then we'll hear from the state police and we'll open up for questions. i do want to thank atf that is here bringing in even more individuals to help out. we appreciate our federal partners. my name is jeremy creason. the fire chief and ems director for the city of mayfield just a quick update. first our priority one right now

is the mcp candle factory. that's where the bulk of our assets are right now still working through rescue and recovery operations. it is a it's a large facility that was devastated in this tornado, so it's going to be a long a long difficult job. but we've got we've got good crews out there. we've got a lot of help from across the state coming in. we're very thankful for that. as of right now our ems volume has has stabilized. we also have a lot of ems crews coming in from across the state as of right now 11 different counties have sent ambulance crews to two mayfield to assist us. we're and say thank you enough for the help that we've received everywhere from our neighboring

counties to vanderbilt the kentucky board of em. as allocated we hope an additional eight ambulances from all over the state of kentucky to come in and assist us. we i want to thank ari back they have not only conducted four seam flights of critical patients, but they've also allocated staffing from other bases to come in and assist us on our ground. ground operations overnight we had four structure fires that a very difficult to to get to the fires once we did with the help of our voluner depth. osir extin thatac threat is under control the we are we're dealing with some some issues right now station one, which is our main the direct

line of the tornado yesterday so that that station has is in fully inoperable at this point. we had to extricate our own fire and ems apparatus from that building just so we could respond last night. so so today my next priority is going to be to find a new station and a temporary home for 45 firefighters and our apparatus and but again, i just want to thank all the support that we've received you across this room across the state the people that have that have called and just showed up the help. i can't say enough just just that how honored i am at. the love that we've been shown by our neighbors, so, thank you.

i'm the chief of police for the city of mayfield. our our mission is fluid as it as it's gone through the night. and i think it'll continue to change throughout the next couple of days. we've been blessed with some support from our sister law enforcement agencies state police has been here from the beginning the murray city police department and the paducah police department said officers early this morning and their patrolling in the city to assist the mayfield police department. one of our biggest challenges in the days to come is going to be interoperability and communications. we've lost some of our assets here in the city state police communications branch is assisting us with that and bringing radios that will allow all of our first responders to be able to communicate not only with the post but with one

another so we're anxious to get that component in place. in addition to the fire station our police station. destroyed in the storm the bulk of our fleet that was parked. there is has also been compromised. but we are making do again we are but we're borrowing vehicular assets from other departments and been very gracious to bring manpower again long before the sun came up this morning the mayfield police department will begin 12 hour shifts later this evening. we've sent some of our people that had been out 24 hours to get some rest while these other departments were here to help us beginning tonight will provide 24-hour patrol again beginning this evening the mayor and the judge executive of the county have have spoken and there's going to be a curfew put in

place for the evening beginning at 7 pm. the particulars of that will be that within the city limits and those parts of the county that have been directly affected by the path of the storm. so after dark we'll go. to dawn if you're not an emergency responder, you need not be in any of those areas after dark if you are are law enforcement officers are going to investigate those circumstances. so we just ask for the public support. we still have much work to do in terms of foot searches within the city limits themselves to make sure that we've found everybody that needs assistance and needs help that i'm sure will go on not only today but beyond so very grateful for the health that we've been given very grateful for the the governor's response and for the state's response.

it would be overwhelming. i think without knowing that we had those resources coming as well. also i don't without saying that our our first priorities with the families that have lost people and i'm just proud of the men and women that have stepped forward here to help those folks in need. last we'll we'll we'll we'll w'l kentucky state police working through the night in every region that have been impacted how one way i was getting my information in real time. so trooper burgess place the state police has been working very closely with all of our local agencies here to assist in any way we can we are working to get communications working for

all of our local agencies together. our primary focus right now is preserving as many lives as we can. we are asking that anybody who is not an emergency responder if they are currently in a safe location to remain there and not enter. into the areas where we are working so that we can get the help to the people that need it as quickly as possible. we appreciate all the support from our local agencies that are here to help us from surrounding counties and beyond. and again, we're just here to try and preserve as many lives as possible. thank you. all right. we'll open it up for questions if you just start by who the question is is for we want to make sure the public is getting the very best information possible. mark is the search and rescue at the factory. remains that people might still be allowed there. i'll turn it over here in a second to those that have been

there all night, but i just came from there. lives. and that facility and i pray that there will be another rescue. i pray they'll be another one or two, but it it's a very dire situation at this point seeing it. i think it was absolutely incredible the number of people that were saved. but i know it's really hard given the number of people that were in it. i think the largest loss of life. in this tornado event isado evei will be there and it may end up being the largest loss of life and any tornado event in a single location again in the state's history. anybody else? that that's heavy machinery. i mean polling it's it's it's the building. that's flattened. it's cars from the parking lot that's on top of it.

it's huge metal drums even ones with corrosive chemicals that were inside. it's it's it's pretty awful to witness. have any idea how many residues you've affected? through the night to this point not just that the facility but throughout the city. i can't give you a hard a hard number. i can tell you that we we loaded a school bus from an apartment complex in the city is called the eloise fuller apartments. we we were able to evacuate around 30 people from that facility we sent in crews. we one person got out. he walked to station one. he led us know that there were there have been a structural collapse and that there were people trapped so we immediately sent our crews and just from that one one apartment complex.

we had around 30 overnight we have at mcp there was a steady flow of walking wounded rescues. we have been working. tirelessly through the knot and and not just my department but many departments and with through it's dangerous out there as the governor said we just left and i walked up and as soon as i walked. got within 15 feet of the rubble. i see 55 gallon drums with corrosive placards that are that are turned over crush leaking out there is a the the structure is just a pile of bent metal and steel and machinery and there are crisis of the city of

paducah paducah fire departments confined space rescue team. they work for the entire night of rescuing victims the city of murray sent there use our team down down to assist and and they were able to save many victims and we we had the at times crawl over casualties to get to live victims to get them out and and mark those casualties as we work our way through the rubble that that just a picture of what they're dealing with down there, so i cannot give you a hard number right now because they are scattered all over the county and and then and a huge area. at mcp so believe across the state there have been hundreds of successful rescues. i think one of the one of the

difficult facts right now is i think the last successful rescue at the at the factory was what 3 am was around 3:30 am. you know. i'm headed there next. else do we know about significant damage in other parts? so so it you know first reports are a good portion of dawson springs is gone. we're standing up the national guard to go door to door. there muhlenberg county has lost at least 10. individuals there and and it wasn't hit as hard as some others we had we've had damage and so many counties we have at least one casualty if not more in caldwell county. we've had some in warren county, but there will be probably up to

10 counties that we lose kentuckyans and i think here and hopkins and and marshall. and maybe muhlenberg we will see some of the larger numbers. can you tell us more in reference to the rescue recovery at the factory? i think it was to answer them how many people so far have been rescue or recovered is a communist air conditioning if you can i think the approximate count is 40. individuals that have been rescued from from that facility. they're about a hundred and ten and at the at the time now, obviously there's some sensitivity until families. no, and and are certain and and we still hope and pray that there's still some some. opportunity for others all right. thank you all very much. thank you. we just got the latest and a

devastating update from the governor of kentucky governor brashear use the word certain when he said they are now certain that they're going to have upwards of 70 people who have died in kentucky after a devastating night of tornado tornadoes across four states at least 18 reported across four states, kentucky. one of them that has been devastated in particular you're field this is where this press conference came to us from and also where there has been a lot of talk with this candle factory where there was at least 110 people by estimates that were in there when this tornado did hit the governor at one point in this press conference the time that he really did get emotional was talking about being at the site of price of that candle factory and by his words the place was flattened. he said the candle factory actually had cars on top of the flattened factory and this is where some 110 people were he believes this is going to be the site of maybe one of the worst and he was talking in in

historic numbers. maybe one of the most devastating single sites of death of a tornado in that state's history the governor also, used words like most devastating tornado event in the state's history unlike anything i've ever seen deadly a system to ever go through, kentucky. he called this a storm this tornado was on the ground according to the governor some 227 miles. there are other states that are reporting deaths as well in particular monet, arkansas and the northeastern part corner of that state where nursing home was hit at least one dead a number of others injured there over in edwardville, illinois two dead at an amazon warehouse as well light is up and as you see this picture here, which is often the case in tornadoes you can mean a path of destruction where a home is flattened. the home is gone and then across the street another house is standing or looks like it hasn't been touched at all that look at

that picture there. you can see that lane if you will of a tornado being on the ground and just cutting a path through that community. mayfield is a small town about 10,000 people so you can imagine everybody knows everybody in that community and they have just been devastated we heard from the fire chief there who said one of there are their firehouse they actually had to rescue some of their equipment and some of their vehicles so that they could go out and start doing rescues of people the police chief also got up and said their police department they're building itself had been destroyed at this point now so much focus is on that candle factory where there's still a search and rescue a rescue and recovery. i should say they're hoping they can find people there again 110 people when this storm hit overnight and as i mentioned 10,000 people in that town mayfield when you heard from the local officials when they stood up. they talked about what they needed and yes, there's going to be food water coming in. there's going to be shelter

that's needed that's going to be federal help. needed but this is a direct quote from one of the local officials about what they need prayer prayer prayer. at this point they're saying that's pretty much all they can ask for so many people to do is just to give prayer and support the best they can we expect more updates, of course throughout throughout the day as arkansas, missouri, tennessee, kentucky, illinois. so many states have been devastated we have heard from the president as well president biden i said he has been briefed. a call this an unimaginable tragedy to lose a loved one in a storm like this as an unimaginable tragedy. they do expect federal assistance very soon declaration emergency declarations to come but this has been a devastating night for many parts of this country after a tornado outbreak last night. our elwyn lopez has gotten to the area. she is on the ground in kentucky as well elwyn so much em, being

put in focus, of course put on this on this candle factor where there are 110 people tell us what you know. yeah, so tj, you heard some of the harrowing details. how they had to access some of the people who had survived and in order to do that. they had to go through some of the casualties. i can tell you when we were making our way over to the live shot location that we saw a woman who was pulled over and she was looking for someone and we stopped to try to help her and she said that she was looking for seven year old aunt. we know now i spoke to her a few hours ago, and she said that unfortunately the crews that she later encountered found. the body of our aunt and she did not survive. so those are some of the stories that we are hearing and now that there is daylight. we're hearing more of those including the factory that you mentioned when we drove past that factory all you could see that was that was a large factory. all you could see was rubble.

that's it and you could see the lights from ambulances and first response responders. excuse me. you heard a lot of talk about unity and support that we've seen. throughout the city of mayfield while we've been here not only with the first responders here in their unwavering. unwavering in their search and rescue operations trying to count for anyone who might be missing but also with community members tj. we've seen a steady stream of community members driving around offering to help in any way that they can and one of the pharmacy owners his business completely gone. i spoke to him and he said, you know, yes, my business has gone. i want to continue to help those people in need. so we're going to set up something on monday to be able to give them their medications, but he said that in all of this darkness. there was a glimmer of hope because he seemed so many communities that are community members that are stopping by and offering their help and saying that they'll do whatever they can to help people out. we're going through this and we

know that this recovery could not only take months but potentially years i want to bring in rob marciano. i meteorologist. i think you were listening in to rob and i heard the governor governor. actually say 227 miles that this tornado was on the ground. i know more study and research about exactly what happened. i know that all gets technical, but i know you've worked a lot of storms and a lot of devastation a lot of tornadoes in your career and over the years take what you see on the ground and kind of the path into some of the video. we're seeing and tell me given what we're hearing from governor bashir and given what you're seeing in some of those pictures what your assessment assessment is of what took place last night. we're talking about this massive storm. that could have been on the ground this long. well, i can tell you that monitoring your last night on the radar. it's frightening men to see such a strong signature. the tornado on the ground that we got brown confirmation early on in the evening and then went

across four states for several hours a remarkable system that may or may not have been on the ground for all the 200 miles but it was it skipped along there and certainly cut a wide path there. you heard one of the officials say that 10 counties and all at least affected there in one county other than mayfield another probably at least 10 fatalities that startling to me that you have that widespread a number of counties. have fatalities, you know, we often look for answers and something like this is an unusual event for the month of december. it's typically our quietest month for tornadoes, especially in kentucky, you know, those climate change play a little over role. there's there's no there's no evidence that climate change has any impact on the strength of severe storms or tornadoes that said to get an 28 of this strength and magnitude and length. probably have four greater in the month of the summer is incredibly rare. and obviously a high impact event that folks in kentucky and across the mid-south are going to be recovering from from quite

some time tj. rob thank you so much and again to our viewers the headline here from governor bashir out of kentucky is that he is certain that they are looking at at least 70 people who have died in kentucky from this storm, and he said he wouldn't be surprised if they end up north of a hundred people who have been devastated and died in this tornado in a tornado. break that has touched a number of states. we will have the very latest on world news tonight we also continue our coverage on abc news live, but in this devastation, i want to leave you with this note from one local official. say one of the best things about this area are the people it's going to take us a while. but we'll be okay. it begins now and it is going to take them a while. i'm dj holmes reporting from new york. this has been a s s s s s from abc news more outerwear, boot city. welcome back. everybody i'm liz kreutz here.

you were just watching a special report about the devastation in the midwest from those tornadoes. as much as many as a hundred people or more could be dead. the governor of kentucky was saying and we will keep you updated on any developments we get their meantime back at home. lisa argen is tracking the weather locally here as well and lisa cold this morning. on the way later this weekend. yeah, liz. we are looking for a pattern change and that is going to arrive later on tonight. it was cold this morning. we're talking temperatures in the 20s with our hard freeze and that has expired numbers coming up into the 30s, but we're watching an area of low pressure offshore that will deepen and drag into the moisture that is going to be like a fire hose that will move over the bay area kind of up and down not consistent. leave for the past for the next four days, but on and off there's the system there and we'll be looking at conditions going downhill by overnight tonight.

here's a look at sutro where temperatures are in the 40s 44 in san francisco 37 in oakland 39 and morgan hill and san jose awfully cold this morning 32 still freezing in santa rosa 33 napa 36 in concord. it is certainly cold anywhere from two to 13 degrees colder this morning. the golden gate bridge where it looks like it could be a nice day, but clouds are going to increase it's going to be chilly and then we will be turning rainy by the time we get into early tomorrow the winds are going to accompany this system. it is going to be a level 2 system to start out and then we're going to look for a level three system on monday. there are the wins up to 30 miles an hour. here's how it plays out five o'clock tomorrow morning. you can see the heavier rain in the north bay. it sinks to the south and it's not raining all day. in fact, we'll see bouts of some heavier rain while some light rain will be in other parts of the bay area. so it is going to fall apart a little bit into monday, but

sunday but into monday night, that's when things really to get going and stay pretty solid deck of rain right on through the day monday and monday night. sunday's estimates three quarters of an inch in richmond from a half inch in fremont over three quarters of an inch in hayward. let's pick it up on monday midnight and look what happens monday morning commute monday afternoon. we get a break on tuesday more rain on wednesday even could see some snowy peaks here this finally ends later on thursday adding the rainfall to from sunday through thursday five inches ben lomond over three inches looks like half moon bay, san francisco. novato could see three to four inches in the coastal hills of the north bay. and that looks like it's an exaggerated amount around san jose. you know, we get the rain shadow. back there, but we're still looking at two to three inches over into the east bay now overall. this is going to be beneficial rain. we could see some urban and small stream flood advisories, but overall the moisture that is lacking in the ground will allow

for this to be absorbed into the ground, but some of the clogged storm drains could see some problems like we saw in october, but that was an extreme atmospheric river we're looking at about a moderate one coming into place sunday. through early tuesday winter storm warning from 10 o'clock saturday through 10 o'clock on tuesday two to four feet above 4,000 feet 5 to 8 inches above 7,000 feet. and here's a look at some of the ski resorts travel impossible for the week ahead 95 inches in donner to 99 inches in kirkwoods. today is your day to get things done. it's dry. it's cool clouds increase mid and upper 50s level 2 system for the day on sunday and then a level 3 system. we will get the wind tomorrow and then that'll continue all day into monday. that's why it's going to be. level three. it's been raining all day pretty much on sunday. and then as we get into tuesday, that's a break, but more rain arrives by wednesday and thursday. so we're thinking this is just

going to be a good thing but a good idea to stay off the roads and maybe get some of those tree branches down and have some backup plans prepared if your power goes out liz that is a good advice lisa. thank you. okay teddy bears will hopefully be flying this afternoon in san jose it's the return of the barracudas sixth annual teddy. bear toss last year. it didn't happen because of the pandemic when the barracudas scored their first goal fans shower the ice with a new stuffed animal that they brought to the game. they are. and distributed to children in need in santa clara county just in time for the holidays the puck drops at 1:15 at sap center. rita moreno who lives here in the bay area turns 90 years old today reporter sandy kenyon from our sister station in new york. spoke with moreno about her historic oscar win and her new role in west side story rita. moreno is the first and so far the only latina to win an academy award for acting and she would make oscar history again

if she's nominated next year for the new version of west side story. 60 years after starring in the original veteran star would be the oldest performer ever to get an eye on a talk about oscar for you and a lot of chance to make history. what was going through your head and your heart when you won. being puerto rican being an outlier being from another country. that's the only thing i could think of and i i felt unfortunately that i couldn't speak of that. i should have i regret that to the state. and i just said you know this really inane i don't i can't believe good lord, i leave you with that. this was my speech. this was my speech. i had not prepared anything because i was absolutely certain that judy garland was gonna to win for judgment at nuremberg. and it was astonishing how in

heaven's name did this happen for me? and to me i've seen the new west side story. it is a wonder you are a wonder in it and you made me cry in those final minutes just saying. oh my god, really? yeah, when did you know that this was going to give you a world-class acting opportunity? oh, the minute steven spielberg asked me and he sent me a script and i was bold over bold over in the very first day of shooting for me. steven said do you mind if i introduced you to the cast? you're so special? i said no and he did, you know, there was polite applause. it was it's sort of a tradition, but my god it was wonderful and west side story is from 20th century studios owned by disney, which is also the parent company of abc 7. happy birthday to such an icon. happy birthday to such an icon. all ♪give my regards to broadway!♪

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morning america co-anchor michael strahan and the blue origin crew of astronauts successfully blasted off into space. they landed safely back on earth aboard the new shepherd. the mission was the rocket's third human flight this year. it was the first with a full astronaut crew of six members in the capsule the flight lasted just over 10 minutes strahan called the trip to unreal after the historic mission also on the flight the daughter of alan shepherd he was the first american in space the spacecraft they flew is named after him. alright, let's get one final check of the weather. it was nice the weather cooperated for them this morning, but pretty pretty chilly here in the bay area. yeah, we have lost that frost in freeze for now and we're gonna have increasing clouds. here's what arrives tomorrow level 2 system heavier rain at 5 in the morning in the north bay then you'll notice it's a little bit scattered by 10 o'clock as we get towards.

one two o'clock another line of rain will move push move over the bay area then by 8 o'clock. it's concentrating in the east and the south bay. that's just the beginning then it becomes more of a solid area of rain into monday and we're looking at anywhere from two to five inches of rain liz through thursday. wow. all right, lisa. thank you. thank you all for joining us here on abc 7 mornings. i'm liz kreutz along with lisa argen ufc live is next at am then at 10 am women's college hoops ucla takes on third ranked yukon then at noon the mls cup final new york city fc battles the portland timbers at providence park and then abc 7 news will continue at 4:30 and then at 5 pm nba countdown. gets you ready for tonight's big game at 5:30. steph curry needs to make just more than 10 three pointers to become the nba's all-time three-point leader when the warriors take on the philadelphia 76ers. so what's going on today? thank you again for joining us

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