Newsom administration to send search and rescue aid to Kentucky after deadly tornadoes
.jpeg "Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at Frank Sparkes Elementary School in Winton, in Merced County, on Dec. 1, 2021.")
California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the deployment of Urban Search and Rescue personnel to Kentucky on Saturday after several deadly tornadoes hit parts of the midwestern and southern United States.
In Kentucky alone, at least 70 people were believed to have been killed as part of the storms that swept across at least six states in the region starting late Friday night.
“I’m pretty sure that number (dead) is north of 70 ... it may, in fact exceed 100 before the day is done,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on Saturday, CNN reported. “The level of devastation is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
In a news release, the California Office of Emergency Services said personnel from two of the eight California-based Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces were approved to be sent to Kentucky at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The personnel that will be sent to Kentucky are part of the State and National Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces. Two members from the Sacramento Fire Department and the Orange County Fire Authority have been approved for deployment.
The task force members were described by state emergency services officials as specialists who “will use their specialized skills and disaster response experience to assist in the coordination of” state and national Urban Search and Rescue teams as well as other local resources.
A series of early-season storms hit the region overnight, damaging an occupied Amazon warehouse in Illinois and destroying a candle factory in Kentucky with more than 100 workers inside, according to the New York Times.
Tornadoes were observed in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee. One tornado ripped through Kentucky for over 200 miles, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.
Gov. Beshear declared a state of emergency in Kentucky on Friday, and President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Kentucky on Saturday in order to send federal aid.
“Cal OES will continue to monitor operations and requests for resources,” state officials said in the news release.
