Dozens dead as tornadoes rip through US Midwest

The state was the worst hit by far in an unusual mid-December swarm of twisters across the Midwest and the South that levelled entire communities and left at least 14 people dead in Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri

Tornado damage in Mayfield, Kentucky. Picture: Gerald Herbert/AP

Night-shift workers were in the middle of the holiday rush, cranking out candles at Mayfield Consumer Products in Kentucky, when a tornado closed in on the factory and the word went out to seek shelter.

For Autumn Kirks, that meant throwing aside wax and fragrance buckets to make an improvised safe place.