Kentucky tornadoes: 'I don't know how anybody could've lived'

Residents continued to recover belongings from destroyed homes in Mayfield

Rescue teams are still searching for survivors in the rubble of buildings destroyed by powerful tornadoes in Kentucky, as officials say the hope of finding people alive is waning.

In the town of Mayfield, one of the hardest hit in the state, the fire station, the city hall and a candle factory were destroyed. Homes and other businesses were flattened or missing roofs. People scoured debris trying to recover anything they could while sharing tales of survival.

"It was like the pressure dropped," Tony Meeker told local broadcaster KFVS-TV, describing the moment the tornado hit on Friday. "And then it felt like our house was about to just be gone, get carried off. It looks like a bomb went off. I don't know how anybody could've lived."

Television news and messages by the National Weather Service on social media warned residents about the approach of the tornado. But, despite the alerts, many had nowhere to hide.

"We got down in the hallway and it wasn't 20 minutes before our whole house started shaking," 53-year-old Laurie Lopez told Reuters news agency. "We heard the rumbling and the whole house started shaking."

• Kentucky fears more than 100 dead from tornadoes

The tornado, she said, "sounded like a freight train going through a brick house". The front of her two-story house collapsed, and part of the roof fell.

Another resident, 25-year-old Jamel Alubahr, said his nephew aged three had died. His sister was in hospital with a skull fracture after being stuck under the rubble of their home. "It all happened in the snap of a finger," he said.

Elsewhere in the town, the candle factory collapsed when 110 employees were believed to be inside. Autumn Kirks, a worker, said she had been next to her boyfriend in a hallway when someone urged them to take cover.

Suddenly, she told the Associated Press, she saw sky and lightning where a wall had been. "I remember taking my eyes off of him for a second, and then [my boyfriend] was gone," she said.

Crews recovered a backpack, a pair of shoes and a mobile phone with 27 missed messages from the collapsed building. On Sunday, Ms Kirks received confirmation her boyfriend had been killed.

In total, eight deaths have been confirmed at the factory, while eight other people are still missing, according to a company spokesperson.

Pastor Joel Cauley said the disaster scene was "indescribable". "It was almost like you were in a twilight zone," he told AP. "You could smell the aroma of candles, and you could hear the cries of people for help. Candle smells and all the sirens is not something I ever expected to experience at the same time."

Kyanna Parsons Perez, a factory worker who made a desperate plea for help on Facebook from under the wreckage, told the BBC that other businesses had shut down for the storm and staff there should not have been at work.

As she looked at the destruction in her town, Mayor Kathy Stewart O'nan said she cried. "I don't think there's a pane of glass in any vehicle or property that the city owns that isn't shattered," she said.

Mayfield, she said, looked like "matchsticks".

Governor Andy Beshear said this was the most devastating tornado event in Kentucky's history. One twister had wrecked places all along its 227-mile (365km) path. The number of dead in the state, he said, was expected to pass 100.

"To the people of America there is no lens big enough to show you the extent of the damage here, he said. "Nothing that was standing in the direct line of this tornado is still standing."

With their churches destroyed, members of First Christian Church and First Presbyterian Church met in a parking lot for Sunday prayers.

"Our little town will never be the same, but we're resilient," Laura McClendon told AP. "We'll get there, but it's going to take a long time."