talk to me about the damage sustained in madisonville. >> so, again, madisonville, kentucky was spared. it's our neighboring communities are the ones hardest hit. they are our direct neighbors. we are here supporting them. offering all of our resources we can bring in into these communities. so the city of madisonville was fortunate. it's given me the opportunity to be able to help serve here in this town. >> and did they reach out to you from mayfield, or was this the kind of thing the minute the outbreak happened, you knew they were going to need your help? >> so, again, we're in dawson springs, so as you're look agent the video right now from dawson springs, kentucky, but no, they're not going to reach out. we're here immediately as soon as we knew that this was coming through. we wanted to make sure we could come out and make sure this was our stop. we want to make sure we can send as much resources here as we can. so -- and this community is decimated, really. i mean, you're looking at some of the videos right now, but there's just not -- there's no words to describe the fact that

yesterday from madisonville is truly special. hope they see a state that cares about one another, that's willing to grieve with one another, too, but is strong enough to rebuild. >> governor, do you have any idea of some of the factory workers will be getting some answers they've turned over names, they haven't heard anything. >> well, the process, and it's not a process i agree with, is that the families are notified after an individual is fully identified by the coroner or others. we need to be more up front about the possibilities for those families. for each of them, i'm really sorry. you're not supposed to lose people the way we've lost them these last two years, and you're not supposed to lose people like this. and to not know and to not have the information has got to make it that much harder. >> do you know if anyone here in this room can get information about how we report information? >> do we have the total number of missing? the challenge is we'll have the reports that come in, we'l, we' to compile and move forward. i

tornado damage in other small western kentucky communities, too, including benton, princeton, madisonville, there is a report of a death that's coming out of also muhlenberg county, too. it's just been really, really traumatic. lots of families lost homes, and i spoke with individuals who lost friends, too. the city of mayfield is only 10,000 people, and it's a lot more than just, you know, physical homes or physical churches. >> sreenivasan: it's hard for people who have not experienced a tornado or are living in that part of the country to get a sense of the scale of the devastation here. when you talk about a tornado going 200 miles across the state, i mean, that's just, you know, give us some idea of what that looks like as you were driving there or as you were driving away. >> a way that i could put it is then our radio station has a signal that reaches across, you know, hundreds of square miles across mostly rural western kentucky. when the tornado outbreak was happening friday night, i've seen the tornado warnings stretching across hundreds of miles. and what started on the far end,

. >> we actually are in a situation now where we've had to divert donations to madisonville for the simpleact that we are snowed under here. we've got more materials and more donations than we can take at this time. it's amazing. folks around the state that have been sending things. >> reporter: this man even driving his food truck all the way from joplin, missouri, to mayfield, to help distribute food. >> cooking and serving. that's all we're going to do. >> reporter: ten years ago an ef-5 tornado tore through joplin, flattening huge swaths of the city. jeff carney remembers everyone who came to help in his city's time of need. >> there was volunteers from everywhere. came out the next day or two, there was 30 people in our backyard. and i go out there, start talking to them, they were from everywhere. florida, new york, tennessee, everywhere. i just thought that was the neatest thing. so that's why we want to do this. >> we've lived through this by the grace of god. and we're making it through by the grace of god. and people are reaching out. and the only thing i know, that's the grace o

we set up in a town called madisonville.to host a point of distribution site. once we had that secured. we starred loading up the trucks at our wire house in baton rouge, louisiana. they started taking off sunday. we should have a 18 wheeler arriving in couple hours in that area. we start setting up. we organize everything. create a drive-through or walkup distribution site where locals can get things like tarps, hygiene, products, supply, water, mres, pretty much everything you would need after a hurricane. we also have some equipment that can, that can clear out roads, chainsaws, we have generators. all these things are on the way or some of it is already there. we just, we just had to be there, all these states helped us out after ida. this is what we do. neil: this is such an unusual storm, series of storms. over 250-mile swath of course that just defies descriptions, the worst tornado december we've ever seen and that is what you're in the middle of. tomorrow presidential visit besides. how do you juggle all of that? >>

towns like madisonville, dawson springs and mayfield were pummelled. with the recovery. >> we want to stay with you for the long haul. i know there's always a lot of attention in the beginning and then it begins to subsidy as people forget and move on. we're going to stick with this until we completely recovery. it's going to take a while with a devastating tornado like this. what we say to everybody, we're not going to lose interest in this in the next few weeks. >> from family homes to theaters and churches and courthouses, over 1,000 properties were destroyed statewide. the total cost of the damage is yet to be determined but it could end up being the costliest tornado outbreak the country has ever seen. >>> still ahead, a cnn exclusive. january 6th investigators believe a text message pushing a strategy to undermine the 2020 election came from rick perry. but there is one van equipped to handle them all. for over 120 years, mercedes-benz vans have been built, upfitted and ready to go. because we believe dreams - should never stay that way. this is

i worked madisonville to want and i work. there were other tornadoes of this. this is stores. >> they have cleaning rebuilding and checking on family and friends after a night of destruction, one in particular. got. >> got injured pretty badly. her whole trailer was picked up off the foundation and. she's currently in the hospital. governor beshear declared a state of emergency is sending teams to hard-hit areas and activated the kentucky national guard they will help with cleanup and recovery and search and rescue efforts and hopkins and at least 5 other kentucky counties. one of the concerns that the mayor just shared in particular. >> it is really being able to touch base with a lot of the folks who are out of contact that don't have direct communications with governor beshear also said president prove their federal emergency declaration request and started that he wants to kentucky tornado relief fund to help tornado victims. >> people who live and work in dawson springs. hope the tornado didn't take away for what they say is a special place. want to give u

and we are actually -- my team, we're in madisonville right now and headed to dawson springs. we know a lot of families have lost everything. and so if power has been out and the governor is right to mention the need to do that, we're working to get generators, people that are type 1 diabetics, ylike myself, your insulin has to be refrigerated. people have lost close thing, shelter is going, basic necessities. we're seeing blood drives that are happening. we're all rallying around. and there is a massive operation that is taking place across kentucky. and for anyone that wants to get involved, charles booker.org/relief, we're helping to connect people to ways to help and it will take care of us. >> folks have used comparisons to a warzone. and oftentimes you will hear that. but i'm tell you as we look at these pictures here, the aerials from mayfield, i haven't seen definitvastation like that warzones, and it will take a lifetime to repair, rebuild. i wonder how you see these communities rebuilding, responding to this in the coming months and years. >> one thing that is true a

we've run out of places to keep our county seat which is madisonville.helming when a third of your town is gone, or 75% of it is gone. >> i've heard you say 75% of your town has been just wiped out. when the president does come, what do you want him to see, what do you want him to take away and remember of dawson springs? >> well, the mayor and i were talking earlier, we want to make sure to stress what we've got here. it will take weeks and weeks and months to get forms filled out and stuff like that so we can get some action on the ground. we need to get it completed, we'll find these people places to live. of course, we have to get the debris and stuff cleaned up, so we can set up maybe temporary houses and a lady is wondering if it's all right if her insurance company sets up a trailer for her until she can get her house rebuilt or whatever. i thought that was great. things like that, that's going to happen. i think the last count i heard was, what, 45? >> 38. >> yeah, 38 that are unaccounted for. we're still seeing people that are still to be people

but once we got on the ground in madisonville and mayfield, there are a number of people, obviously,all we had to do was make the delivery and the folks there on the ground were able to take what we were able to provide and get set up for distribution to kids both the day we dropped off and the following days. >> jordan, tell us how people are reacting when you are there presenting them with these gifts. >> well, there's a lot of gratitude. i will say one of the challenges we initially had was we had this idea we wanted to bring toys to the area that was just devastated and we're this close to christmas but understandably, the people on the ground were more concerned about the immediate needs of -- people needed money and water and supplies. just the immediate aftermath. so it took a few days to sort of -- for folks to think about christmas is next week. we need to be thinking about what are we going to do for the kids in this area? we tried to time that with the relief efforts on the ground. by the time we were able to get our trucks into the area, there were consolidated distributi

my dad is from dawson springs, not far from madisonville. the number of volunteers when i was there yesterday is truly special. so i hope they see a state that cares about one another. it's willing to grieve with one another, too, but is strong enough to rebuild. >> governor, do you have any idea, when some of the families of the factory workers will be get something answers? we've talked to dozens who say they turned over -- >> the families are notified after an individual is fully identified or others. i think as we see -- >> a lot there from a lot of different folks. i want to bring you up to date on what we're hearing and how we can drill down and help out that community, obviously. drill down on what they need most. we heard from the governor andy beshear there followed by secretary mayorkas. the fema administrator. we also heard from congressman james comer. the national guard, talking about the 300 soldiers and airmen on the ground assisting throughout the state of kentucky. we also heard from the mayor of mayfield. it's her community

i worked madisonville to want and i work. there were other tornadoes of this. this is stores. >> they have cleaning rebuilding and checking on family and friends after a night of destruction, one in particular. got. >> got injured pretty badly. her whole trailer was picked. up off the foundation and. she's currently in the hospital. now spend. >> about 8 hours this morning trying to make sure my cousin piece here. i was ok along with her family governor beshear declared a state of emergency last night. yeah, it's fema is sending teams to hard-hit areas and activated the kentucky national guard. they will help with cleanup and recovery and search and rescue efforts in hopkins and at least 5 other kentucky counties. one of the concerns that the the mayor just shared particular. >> it is really being able to touch base with a lot of the folks who are out of contact that don't direct communications with governor beshear also said president find the prove their federal emergency declaration request and started that he wants to kentucky tornado relief fund to help to