INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Task Force 1 has been deployed to Mayfield, Kentucky to help following the devastating damage from a rare December tornado outbreak Friday evening.
According to Commander Tom Neal, Task Force 1 was activated at 11 a.m. Saturday to deploy as a NIMS Type 3 Urban Search & Rescue Task Force.
READ | More than 50 dead after devastating tornado touches down in Western Kentucky
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says there are "likely" to be more than 50 people who have died from tornadoes in the western part of the state or "significantly up north of that."
The storms caused damage as they tracked through Tennessee and into Kentucky. Several buildings collapsed in the southwestern Kentucky community of Mayfield and several people were trapped inside a damaged candle factory after the storm hit, according to Sarah Burgess, a trooper with the Kentucky State Police in Mayfield.
A total of 45 Indiana Task Force 1 personnel were sent to Kentucky. Crews were assigned to search and rescue at a candle factory where more than 100 people were working when a tornado struck and leveled the building.
