Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky declared a state of emergency on Friday as tornadoes unleashed death and destruction along a path extending more than 200 miles, a disaster that officials expect to emerge as one of the most devastating in the state’s history.
In the early hours of Saturday, Mr. Beshear said that at least 50 people were killed, and that the death toll was likely to increase to upward of 70 in the coming hours as the sun rises and the authorities across the state begin to get a firmer sense of the storms’ wrath.
“Daybreak is going to bring more tough news,” Mr. Beshear said at a briefing.
Already, rescuers in counties across the state had mobilized, contending with darkness, powerful wind and driving rain to try to find people trapped in collapsed houses and buildings.
Some of the worst destruction was centered in Mayfield, a town of nearly 10,000 people in the state’s western corner. At least 110 people were huddled inside a candle factory in the area when a tornado ripped through.
“We believe we’ll lose at least dozens of those individuals,” Mr. Beshear said.
About 60,000 people in the state were without power as of Saturday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, and officials said the storms’ devastation was likely to become some of the worst the state has endured.
The storms also caused a freight train to derail, although no injuries were reported.
The freight railroad company CSX said that initial reports, including from a police department in the city of Madisonville in western Kentucky, indicated that several rail cars on one of its trains had derailed after the train was stopped amid severe weather.
“There are no reported injuries to the crew,” Cindy Schild, a CSX spokeswoman, said in a statement after midnight. “CSX personnel are on route to the scene and will coordinate with local emergency responders to assess the situation.”
Michael E. Dossett, the director of the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, said the number of storms could surpass the 1974 super outbreak of tornadoes. He also said that the length of one tornado’s track could rival that of the 1925 tornado outbreak that killed hundreds as it cut a path through Southern and Midwestern states.
“It is a significant, massive disaster event,” Mr. Dossett said.
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