Biden points to CLIMATE CHANGE in mourning 84 killed by THIRTY tornadoes

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President grieved for the victims of at least 30 deadly tornadoes that swept through the Mississippi Valley, killing at least 84 people in and dozens more in four other states, before pointing to the contentious issue of climate change for the extreme weather. Biden, speaking from Wilmington, on Saturday, promised to get federal help to the areas affected as soon as possible after declaring an emergency and ordering assistance for the Kentucky town ravaged by the tornado. 'All that I know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impact as a consequence of the warming of the planet and the climate change,' he said. 'The specific impact on these specific storms, I can't say at this point. I'm going to be asking the EPA and others to take a look.' Biden promised that he would visit Kentucky but at a point where he and his team wouldn't be 'in the way.' He added that the government was prepared for this storm but Biden was clearly thinking about the increase in weather disasters in recent years. 'We're as prepared as any government has ever been for these disasters. What warning was there, was it strong enough and was it heeded? You asked me about whether or not we were gonna be able to do. Part of it is acknowledging that the likelihood of fewer weather catastrophes, absent a continued movement on dealing with global warming, is just not gonna happen.' 'We always had wildfires, but who in god's name thought we'd see more territory burned to the ground larger than the state of New Jersey,' he added. 'We have to act, but the first and most urgent piece here is we have to save anyone who's still alive, we have to care for them and we have to care for those families.' The president also held a briefing with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to offer condolences and ask what each governor needed from DC. Beshear said at a briefing midday on Saturday the death toll was now 'north of 70' and that 'it may in fact end up exceeding 100 before the day is done.' At least 84 people were reported dead by Saturday evening. In addition to the 70 in Kentucky, six more are dead in Illinois, four in Tennessee and two each in Arkansas and Missouri. As of Saturday night, over 200,000 people across the region remained without power in their homes. 137,599 outages were reported in Tennessee and 71,982 customers experienced outages in Kentucky. 'This will be, I believe, the deadliest tornado system to ever run through Kentucky,' he added. 'It is indescribable. The level of devastation is unlike anything I have ever seen.' The early casualty estimates suggest that the tragedy is the deadliest tornado strike in Kentucky in more than a century, on a scale last seen in 1890 when twisters killed 76 in the Louisville area. One tornado among the dozens that struck is estimated to have a damage path of more than 200 miles, which would approach or exceed the all-time global record. The epicenter of the destruction was 'We're going to lose a lot of lives at that facility. I pray that there will be another rescue, another one or two, but it's a very dire situation at this point,' said the visibly emotional governor. Elsewhere, in southern Illinois, authorities said at least two were dead and up to 50 people were trapped after a roof collapsed at an Amazon warehouse near St. Louis late on Friday, when tornadoes and strong storms blew through the area. At least two were killed and five were injured when a tornado shredded the roof of a nursing home in Monette in northern Arkansas and a woman and a young child were killed in their homes in Missouri. The genesis of the tornado outbreak was a series of overnight thunderstorms, including a super cell storm that formed in northeast Arkansas. That storm moved from Arkansas and Missouri and into Tennessee and Kentucky. 'Unfortunately it produced a couple of deadly tornadoes along the way. One of them may have been a long-track tornado,' Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Roger Edward said. 'The killer tornado was part of that.' The White House said in a statement that President Biden had been briefed on the destruction and would receive further briefings throughout the day. 'The President has directed that Federal resources be surged immediately to the locations where there is the greatest need to alleviate suffering from the devastating consequences of these storms,' the White House said. Emergency response has been hampered by widespread power outages, with hundreds of thousands without electricity across multiple states on Saturday. Speaking at a press conference early Saturday morning, Beshear said: 'As of 4:45am [CST] 56,854 Kentuckians are without power. I have been personally over at the emergency operations center since about 1am overseeing our response and hearing and absorbing the difficult news in real time.' 'This has been one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history and some areas have been hit in ways that is hard to put into words,' Beshear said. He said: 'Before midnight, I declared a state of emergency. I've activated the national guard. We are deploying 181 guardsmen including search and extraction and debris clearing folks.' He said search and rescue officials had been working through the night to pull people from the rubble. About 110 people were inside a candle factory in the area when the tornado ripped through, bringing down the roof and causing mass casualties, Beshear said. The busy factory was working three shifts around the clock to fill orders for the busy Christmas season, and early reports indicate that there were scores of fatalities. Kyanna Parsons-Perez, who was inside the factory, said the roof collapsed soon after the workers could hear and feel the howling winds and the lights began flickering. 'We could feel the wind ... then we did a little rock,' Parsons-Perez told NBC. 'And then boom everything came down on us.' Video and photos posted on social media showed brick buildings in downtown Mayfield reduced to rubble, with parked cars nearly buried under bricks and debris. The clock tower on the Graves County courthouse in Mayfield appeared to have been toppled, photos showed. Meanwhile, at least 100 emergency vehicles descended upon the Amazon warehouse near Edwardsville, Illinois, about 25 miles east of St. Louis, where a wall that was about the length of a football field collapsed, as did the roof above it. It wasn't immediately clear how many people were hurt, but one person was flown by helicopter to a hospital. Edwardsville Police Chief Mike Fillback said several people who were in the building were taken by bus to the police station in nearby Pontoon Beach for evaluation. By early Saturday, rescue crews were still sorting through the rubble to determine if anyone was trapped inside. Fillback said the process would last for several more hours. Cranes and backhoes were brought in to help move debris. 'Please be patient with us. Our fire personnel are doing everything they can to reunite everyone with their loved ones,' Fillback said on KMOV-TV. Fillback confirmed at a press conference early Saturday there was 'more than one fatality... at least two' at the Amazon facility. He said authorities are still working to confirm how many people were at the facility when it was damaged. He said he believed the number was about 50. 'We're deeply saddened by the news that members of our Amazon family passed away as a result of the storm in Edwardsville,' said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel in a statement to DailyMail.com on Saturday morning. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by the storm. We also want to thank all the first responders for their ongoing efforts on scene. We're continuing to provide support to our employees and partners in the area,' added Nantel. The Belleville News-Democrat reported that the Amazon fulfillment center in Edwardsville opened with two warehouses in 2016, with 1.5 million square feet of space. The warehouses are used to store items until they are shipped to customers. 'About a third of the warehouse is torn down and damaged from either straight by line winds or tornado,' tweeted Jenna Rae, with Illinois's station. One woman said she was speaking to a family member inside the warehouse as the storm hit. 'He was on the phone with me while it was happening,' Aisha White told KMOV. 'The tornado was hitting the back of the building, the trucks were coming in, I told him to jump out the truck and duck. 'We watched the building go up, stuff hitting the cars, I told him I was on my way.' Amazon founder Jeff Bezos offered condolences to Edwardsville and offered the company's help. 'The news from Edwardsville is tragic. We're heartbroken over the loss of our teammates there, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families and loved ones,' Bezos tweeted late Saturday evening. J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois, tweeted: 'My prayers are with the people of Edwardsville tonight, and I've reached out to the mayor to provide any needed state resources.' Three storm-related deaths were confirmed in Tennessee, said Dean Flener, spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Two of the deaths occurred in Lake County, and the third was in Obion County - both in the northwestern corner of the state. In Tennessee, the severe weather killed at least three people, Dean Flener, spokesman for the state's Emergency Management Agency, said in comments reported by the Washington Post. A tornado also struck the Monette Manor nursing home in Arkansas on Friday night, killing one person and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told The Associated Press. Five people had serious injuries, and a few others had minor ones, he said. The nursing home has 86 beds. Day said another nursing home about 20 miles away in Truman was badly damaged but no injuries were reported. The residents were being evacuated because the building is unsafe. Workers at a National Weather Service office had to take shelter as a tornado passed near their office in Weldon Spring, Missouri, about 30 miles west of St. Louis. One person died and two others were injured in building collapses near the towns of Defiance and New Melle, both just a few miles from the weather service office. The storms caused a CSX company freight train to derail in western Kentucky, although it said no injuries were reported, the New York Times said. Bill Bunting, operations chief at the Storm Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service, said at least five states were hit by the tornadoes, naming them as Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas, the Times reported. 'It happens quick but apparently there was a little bit of time with tornado sirens going off.' Some residents were found in the basement 'and were prepared for this,' he said. Melissa Moon, a reporter with WREG3, tweeted a photo of the severely damaged Monette Manor nursing home, with what appeared to be a mangled bed in the parking lot. The exact speed of the tornadoes were not yet known on Friday night, and it was unclear how many there had been. CNN reported that there were 19 tornadoes that hammered the five state. Some reports suggested that the record for the longest single tornado - 219 miles - could have been broken, and that it had crossed four states, breaking another record. Observers speculated that many of tornadoes were at four or even five on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale. Wind speeds of between 136 and 165mph are found in EF4 tornados, and of 200mpg in EF5 tornados. 'This tornado is so powerful it literally broke Radarscope velocity,' tweeted @WxAtlantic. 'The delta velocity is so high that the couplet just folded over on itself.' Almost 300 miles to the north of Monette, Southern Illinois Fire Incidents confirmed a 'mass casualty incident' at the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville and said more than 20 units of emergency responders were attending the scene. And in Kentucky, the town of Mayfield - home to 10,000 people - was hard-hit. Buildings were left without their roofs; large trees were uprooted; glass in store fronts was shattered, and debris scattered on the ground. The courthouse, built in 1888, was devastated, with the tower sheared off the building and the roof lifted off. The wall of a candle factory collapsed, trapping people inside and leaving them begging for help. 'We got hit by a hurricane - I'm at work in Mayfield, and we are trapped,' said Kyanna Lou, broadcasting a Facebook Live from the dark, with a woman sobbing behind her and muffled shouts and moans. 'Please, y'all. Get us some help. We're at the candle factory in Mayfield. 'Please, send us some help. The wall is stuck on me. Nobody can get to us, y'all please. Pray for us.' She added: 'We were all in the safe shelter place, the whole building fell. We are stuck.' Callie Lemle, the wife of the president of Graves County Economic Development, Jason Lemle, told on Friday night that he was at the candle factory, Mayfield Consumer Products. She said people were digging through the rubble trying to get people out, listening to the cries of those trapped. She said her husband told her they need more volunteers, and anyone with gloves, headlamps, and equipment for digging was welcome to help. Mayfield had the grim distinction of being hit by among the most intense storms on record, with debris thrown 30,000 feet into the air, according to storm trackers. Around Mayfield there was 'absolute devastation', said Brett Adair of Live Storms Media. Craig Ceecee, a meteorologist and researcher at Mississippi State university, described the Mayfield storm as 'among the most intense ever recorded'. He said it was 'an extremely violent tornado'. 'Communities being hit hard. And we won't know how bad it is until morning. We have to think and pray for those being affected,' he tweeted. And across the region, tornadoes on Friday night ripped through parts of , , Tennessee and - with one becoming what a storm chaser said was the first quad-state tornado in U.S. history. Footage on social media from across the region showed huge swirling towers of storm clouds sweeping across the plains. Storm chasers photographed the tornado near Caruthersville in Missouri, along the I-55. Video showed multiple semis thrown onto their sides, twisted in the road. Chris Jackson, a professional storm chaser, said that he had seen tractor trailers in Steele, Missouri, lifted off the ground and flung into the air. 'A second tractor trailer was picked up and thrown on I-55 near exit 17,' he tweeted. 'Just spoke to the driver. Has some minor cuts but is ok.' Jackson said that emergency responders were flocking to the area, with their lights flashing as they raced to help people. He said the power was down along the I-69 between Troy and Mayfield, Kentucky. Mayfield, founded in the early 19th Century, saw its main street battered by the storm. Many of the Victorian buildings were severely damaged, including the courthouse, built in 1888 - the fourth such building on the site. The courthouse was renovated in 1990. Mayfield's residents, 35 per cent of whom are classed as living in poverty, according to the , work mainly in manufacturing and food processing, the Graves County economic development board . The governor of Kentucky declared a state of emergency on Friday evening. Andy Beshear activated the Kentucky Guard and Kentucky State Police to respond to the destruction in western Kentucky. Multiple agencies are responding and assisting Kentucky State Police. 'We are praying for our Western Kentucky families,' Beshear said in a tweet.