More than 1,000 properties were destroyed, Beshear said Monday, and more than 20,000 people remain without power in Kentucky, according to the online tracker Poweroutage.us.
The electric grid in Mayfield, however, was totally wiped out and that it would take weeks to months to rebuild, said Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett on Tuesday. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency were on the ground already and efforts to tarp damaged houses that can be repaired have also begun, Dossett said.
At least 30 tornadoes from Friday to Saturday struck Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas. One of the twisters that hit Kentucky is believed to have traveled 200 miles or more, possibly challenging the national record of 219 set in 1925.
AccuWeather said that the total damages and economic losses from the tornado outbreak could amount to $18 billion, which would make it the costliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history.
The United States has endured deadly and landscape-altering tornado outbreaks in its history. In 1925, the "Tri-State Tornado" killed hundreds of people, while in 1974 and in 2011, super outbreaks spawned hundreds of twisters that killed several hundred people and resulted in billions of dollars of damage.
However, according to AccuWeather, no outbreak has ever caused as much economic impact as this year's December tornado event.
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