Planning questions emerge at tornado-destroyed candle plant

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — The Mayfield Consumer Products factory was the third-biggest employer in this corner of western Kentucky, an important economic engine that churned out candles that lined the shelves of malls around the U.S.

But why its workers kept making candles Friday night as a tornado bore down on the region remains unclear as rescuers continue scouring the factory wreckage for signs of life.

Kentucky’s governor said Sunday the ferocity of the storm was so great that there was nowhere safe to hide inside the plant.

“It appears most were sheltering in the place they were told to shelter,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. "I hope that area was as safe as it could be, but this thing got hit directly by the strongest tornado we could have possibly imagined.”

Of the 110 workers overnight Friday, Beshear said early Sunday that only 40 were rescued and it would be a miracle if any more were found alive. He said later on Sunday that it might be a “better situation” than initially feared as the state works to verify a worker headcount provided by the factory.

Some workers said they had been told to huddle in a central hallway area, the strongest part of the building, as the storm approached.

“That’s where everybody is supposed to go,” said Autumn Kirks, who worked at the plant with her boyfriend, who is still missing. "We stopped everything and tried to get as sheltered as we could.”

Kirks said an earlier weather warning siren during her shift prompted some workers to leave for the night.

“I know a lot of the workers left. We thought about it but decided against it,” she said.

The factory where she and her boyfriend worked employs many people in and around Mayfield, a city of about 10,000 in Kentucky's southwest corner. It is Graves County's third-biggest employer, according...