and through the very moment that we are standing here, we have lived through some of the toughest hours of our lives as Kentucky ins. This event is the worst, most devastating, most deadly tornado event in Kentucky's history. I believe that by the end of today for tomorrow um We will be north of at least 70 lives lost here in Kentucky. I think we will have lost more than 100 people and I think it could rise significantly in those numbers. About 1:00 AM. I was at the state Emergency Operations Center hearing the reports coming in live places like my parents hometown, Dawson Springs, which I just came from and how hard it was hit hearing about families trapped in a basement and actually thinking they're lucky as long as we can get to them based on what happened from so many other families. Hearing about the amazing efforts of our first responders so many in this room. We thank you every day. But we, we have absolutely thank you today. Um thank you so much for what you've done for our people over these last hours. I know you haven't slept, I know what that feels like. I know the efforts that you've put in and I know when you were out there, especially in the first part of it was incredibly dangerous uh to you, we have seen people come together from all over the state, all over the country. Federal partners like a T. F. We had the Coast Guard down in Mayfield and then we are seeing people come in from other states and other regions. I just want everybody to know that you are not alone today, Kentucky is absolutely united. We are united with our people. We are united to find and rescue as many as possible. We are united to grieve with I think over 100 families that will have lost individuals and we are united to be here for those families and this and every other impacted community not just today and this week, but in the coming years so that we rebuild and get those families back on their feet. The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life and and I have trouble putting it into words but it was safe to travel this morning. I flew to Mayfield. My first stop was that candle factory, 110 people working in it at the time. The storm hit rescue 40 There's at least 15 ft of metal with cars on top of it, barrels of corrosive chemicals that are there. It'll be a miracle if anybody else has found alive in it. A downtown completely devastated from there. Um, My dad's hometown of Dawson Springs Population 20 700. They're going to lose a whole lot of people. One block from my grandparents house, there's no house standing, there's no house standing and we don't know where all those people are. This was four different tornadoes and I'm told we're actually gonna see 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 U. S. History folks. 200 of those miles. We're in Kentucky, We're ground zero and I know this community is hit has been hit really hard. We're with you, the whole state is with you. It's about just before midnight last night that we um signed, I signed a state of emergency that allowed us to call up the National Guard. Now, hundreds deploying all over Kentucky to help to help going door to door see if we can find people uh to help clearing the roadways and yes to help in law enforcement in some towns that are going to have any power. Uh 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 unpassable. 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. Uh Since our last stop, there are two 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 cities and our county's uh to to really do even more. I've talked today directly to the president twice the uh huh 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 pledged 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 tonight. It's getting cold. It's gonna be a tough night for a lot of people across Kentucky. The second new announcement is people have been asking all day how can we help? And we've been telling them to things with the third coming. The first we said is if you are in a community that has been hit and hit hard and you're safe and you have powers stay off the roads. Let our first 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 that those who do this work that are so good at it can do it at the fastest possible speed. 2nd, Let's give blood. We're already pretty short with Covid out there and have been pushing. We're going to have, we have a lot of deaths were also going to have a lot of of injuries. But the third is, we have now been able to set up a single fund 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 and the relief efforts that these families are going to need to rebuild that as a team Western Kentucky tornado relief fund. It is now live at team W Ky relief fund dot ky dot gov. I'll do it again. Team W ky relief fund dot ky dot gov. We've been, we've been hearing from folks again all around the country. I've heard from some folks outside the country that run great companies inside of Kentucky, they are mourning for this and other communities with that. We're gonna have a number of folks give us updates on where we are right now. I think we're first turning it over to the mayor to talk about specifically what we're seeing here. Um, let me say, I know, I know that lives lost are gonna be in double digits. They're going to be and multiple counties. I know Mulan bark. I know Hopkins um, here certainly graves, we believe in marshall. Um, it's tough but also your folks have done incredible work on top of it since the very beginning, and I'm really proud of the response here in Warren County.