At least 70 killed in Kentucky after tornadoes sweep through the South and the Midwest

Andrea Dowdy was hunkered down with her husband, son and two daughters at their home in rural Wingo, Ky., on Friday night when the tornado passed on its way toward the candle factory in neighboring Mayfield.

The family was tracking the tornado’s progress, and Dowdy’s daughter Logan Miller began to panic. Miller’s fiance, Alec Clark, was midway through his shift at the factory.

Dowdy tried calling him, but she couldn’t get through. She could track his phone, and it wasn’t moving.

“I just told my husband: ‘Get there now, 'cause Alec, he’s there, he’s not responding,’ ” Dowdy recalled.

MAYFIELD, Ky. — Charley Mcgregor, a training manager at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory since August, said the company’s emergency plan calls for workers to shelter in place at a restroom hallway in the back of their production floor when storms threaten the facility.

All workers evacuated to that hallway when the sirens went off Friday night, Mcgregor said, and all employees were accounted for in the hall around that time.

Mcgregor, who was not on the night shift, said several employees clocked out early that night, but she was not sure whether employees were given the option to go home early once the tornado warning was announced.

On Friday evening, the storm dragged a strong cold front from Arkansas to southern Illinois and western Kentucky, where violent thunderstorms erupted. The storms generated damaging winds and spawned numerous tornadoes.

The storm system and its attendant front also generated strong winds in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, where hundreds of thousands of customers lost power.

The National Weather Service received reports of more than three dozen tornadoes from Friday night to Saturday morning.

The Post has compiled a visual story of how the storm cut through the region.

Clayton Cope, a 29-year-old maintenance worker, was one of the people killed after a tornado tore through Edwardsville, Ill.

Cope, who was known for his kindness, was working at the Amazon facility that collapsed Friday evening, said his mother, Carla Cope. At least five other people died, and scores more were trapped when the tornado hit the building in a St. Louis suburb.

His loved ones remember Cope for his fun personality and ever-present smile.

Rachel Cope, his sister, described him as her “biggest idol” and narrated instances of when the two siblings would search for Christmas presents to ruin their surprises, and when they annoyed each other “till we couldn’t stand it.”

Six people died and one was being treated after a direct hit from a tornado destroyed part of an Edwardsville, Ill., Amazon distribution center Friday night, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a Saturday news conference.

“This is a tragic day in Illinois history,” Pritzker (D) said.

It was unclear how many workers were trapped beneath the wreckage.

About 45 people, rescued Friday night, were sent to a reunification center in neighboring Pontoon Beach, Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford said during the news conference, and an unknown number are missing.

As the sirens blared and the wind roared, Barbara Richards made a horrifying discovery when she looked out of the glass door of the nursing home she works at in Arkansas on Friday night.

“I could see the rotation outside before it got to us,” the Monette Manor nurse told The Washington Post.

The tornado was heading straight for them.

She ran back and told the residents to cover their heads with pillows and hold on tight. She and the other nurses had gathered them up and put as many as they could in the hall near the nurse’s station. They’d barricaded the glass doors with mattresses.

Kentucky has set up a fund to help the victims and families affected by a storm system that killed dozens of people and destroyed numerous structures Friday.

In one of his several Saturday news conferences, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced a fund that is “solely dedicated to the on-the-ground efforts” and relief work that families will need to rebuild in the aftermath of the tornadoes.

The Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund went live Saturday to help those affected by Friday’s devastation.

At least one person was killed and three people were injured by a tornado that touched down in St. Charles County, Mo., just west of St. Louis, on Friday.

The rural community of Defiance was hit the hardest, spokeswoman Mary Enger said in an interview. The tornado struck at about 8 p.m. Friday, touching down near Route 94 and Highway F. Snapped trees and debris littered the area, and Enger said cleanup crews worked through the night to clear roads and repair electrical lines.

The county’s community development office spent Saturday surveying the damage to determine which homes were safe enough to be occupied and which needed to be evacuated.