Thousands without heat, water after U.S. tornadoes kill dozens

Residents of a Kentucky town devastated by a tornado could be without heat, water and electricity in chilly temperatures for a "long time," the mayor warned Monday, as officials struggled to restore services after a swarm of twisters levelled neighbourhoods and killed dozens of people in five states.

Authorities are still tallying the devastation from Friday's storms, though they believe the death toll will be lower than initially feared since it appeared many more people escaped a candle factory in Mayfield, Ky., than first thought.

Kentucky was the worst-hit by far in the cluster of twisters across several states, remarkable because they came at a time of year when cold weather normally limits tornadoes. At least 64 people died in the state, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday, and another 105 were unaccounted for.

There were at least another 14 deaths in Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.

"This is a tough morning … but it's OK. We're still going to be all right," Kathy Stewart O'Nan, the mayor of Mayfield, Ky., said on CBS Mornings.

But those who survived faced a low temperature below freezing Monday without any utilities.

"We lost a water tower, so we have no water within the city limits. All the power was cut just for safety reasons after everything fell," O'Nan told NBC's Today show. "And the natural gas has been turned off because of so many leaks. So we have no resources."

"The resources are gonna take a long time to be restored here," she added.

Across the state, about 26,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, including nearly all of those in Mayfield. National Guard members went house to house, checking on people and helping to remove debris. Cadaver dogs searched for victims.

Authorities are still trying to determine the total number of dead, and the storms made door-to-door searches impossible in some places. "There are no doors," said Beshear.

"We're going to have over 1,000 homes that are gone, just gone," he said.

Beshear had said Sunday morning that the state's toll could exceed 100. But he later said it might be as low as 50.

Initially as many as 70 people were feared dead in the candle factory in Mayfield, but the company said Sunday that eight were confirmed dead and eight remained missing, while more than 90 others had been located.

"Many of the employees were gathered in the tornado shelter and after the storm was over they left the plant and went to their homes," said Bob Ferguson, a spokesman for the company. "With the power out and no landline they were hard to reach initially. We're hoping to find more of those eight unaccounted as we try their home residences."