What happened inside factory in tornado’s path? And other questions KY needs answered.

As Western Kentuckians continue to clean up after possibly the most deadly tornadoes to ever hit the state, there is much we cannot know or understand — why is one town destroyed and not another, why is this street leveled and the next one left unscathed?

But there are other things about Friday’s storm that we need answers on immediately, most of them involving the storm’s deadliest target, the Mayfield Consumer Products factory where 110 people were working the night shift. Only 40 people had been accounted for as of Sunday morning.

By Sunday night, some clearer numbers — and better news — had emerged, as the Associated Press reported that 90 people from the factory had now been accounted for and had survived. A spokesman for the factory told AP that eight people were confirmed dead at the factory, with eight still unaccounted for.

“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,” spokesman Bob Ferguson told the AP. “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.”

Still, many questions remain unanswered. According to witnesses, sirens were going off in Mayfield by 7 p.m. By 9:30 p.m., they were sheltering in place at the factory. Shortly after that, the tornado peeled the roof off the building. That leaves several hours to empty a factory built on a slab, according to post-tornado photos. Witnesses reported sheltering in halls and bathrooms. Before Sunday night, CEO Troy Propes had issued only one statement about the storm, noting that his employees are “cherished.” He needs to say much more about what happened inside the factory Friday night. No Christmas rush for candles and other fragrance items made at the factory was worth this much risk.

According to a federal OSHA report from 2019, MCP had racked up seven “serious” violations, including a lack of proper electrical protective equipment and other unsafe work practices. The Beshear administration should expedite the numerous open records requests on state inspections and other documents they have no doubt received for this company, which in 2018 announced an $8.3 million expansion that included $700,000 in tax incentives through the the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority.

Then there is the question about Graves County Jail inmates who were apparently working at the factory. While sometimes presented as a positive way for the incarcerated to bank money for when they are released, it’s also a source of cheap labor of those who aren’t in a position to ask questions or challenge authority. We need to know more.

We need more information about emergency preparedness measures throughout Western Kentucky. Did residents of Dawson Springs, Bowling Green, and Bremen get adequate notice of the storm’s severity? As Lexington’s Emergency Management frequently warns us, sirens are placed to warn people who are outside of weather emergencies. They are not meant to be heard by people sleeping in their homes.

Now that we live in a digital age, people who live in tornado-prone areas, which now appears to include much of Kentucky, should sign up to get cell phone alerts from the National Weather Service, or get a weather radio. How much of that kind of preparedness has the state’s Emergency Management done in recent years? How much of it is translated into Spanish, a growing population throughout our state?

Tornadoes are unpredictable and deadly; states need to do as they can to warn and prepare citizens so that the inevitable loss of property, and in worse cases, life, can be as minimal as possible. We need more information to know that this is happening, from our government and from private employers.

This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 12:36 PM.