Washington, Dec 12 (FN Bureau) US President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in Kentucky where a deadly storm killed dozens of people. “Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that an emergency exists in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and ordered Federal assistance to supplement Commonwealth and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, and tornadoes beginning on December 10, 2021, and continuing,” the White House said on Saturday.
Emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent federal funding and will apply to the counties of Breckenridge, Bullitt, Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hickman, Hopkins, Lyon, Meade, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Shelby, Spencer, and Warren, the White House specified. In the early hours of Saturday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency and asked President Biden for federal assistance after an outbreak of tornadoes ripped through the state, along a path extending more than 200 miles (320 kilometers). Beshear told reporters on Saturday that the death toll from the storm was at over 70. The city of Mayfield was particularly hard-hit: more than 100 people were huddled inside a candle manufacturing factory there when a tornado ripped through.