Kentucky tornadoes: What to know about the damage, deaths after overnight storms

While much of the nation slept early Saturday morning, a series of tornadoes rocked Western Kentucky and other areas in the Southeast and Midwest, causing dozens of casualties and a ton of damage to towns across the commonwealth.

Louisville was spared much of the damage, though strong winds and heavy rain hit Kentucky's largest city for much of the night. Many areas in the western portion of the state, though, were devastated.

Here's a quick breakdown of what where conditions currently stand, with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear set to offer additional updates throughout the day.

Live updates from Kentucky: Get the latest on storm damage here

Where does death toll from Kentucky tornadoes stand?

An official count has not been released, but by Saturday afternoon, Beshear said he believed the death toll would rise past 70 and likely exceed 100.

Earlier in the day at a 5 a.m. news conference, Beshear said he expected the death toll from Saturday's tornadoes to surpass 50, likely landing between 70 to 100 casualties. That number rose after officials were able to take more time to assess the damage.

Reactions: Tornadoes hit Kentucky early Saturday. See some of the damage and what people are saying

What areas in Kentucky were hit hardest?

Much of the state was impacted by Saturday's tornadoes, with power outages affecting people on all sides of Kentucky. At 5 a.m., Beshear said he believed more than 56,000 people were currently without power.

That number was down by Saturday night, with LG&E reporting about 12,000 outages by 8:30 p.m.

But Western Kentucky took by far the most damage. One of the four tornadoes that touched down in the state was massive, originating in Arkansas before coming north into the Bluegrass State. It traveled more than 200 miles and reached Central Kentucky before weakening.

More coverage: A massive tornado ripped through Kentucky for more than 200 miles. Here's its path.

Mayfield, a town of about 10,000 on the far western side of the state, was hit hard, with much of its historic downtown flattened by the storm. Bowling Green, which is further east and is home to Western Kentucky University, also took major damage.

Significant damage has also been reported in Campbellsville, in Taylor County, and winds from the storm knocked down a power line on Interstate 65 in Louisville.

Where did Kentucky tornadoes hit?: See damage by county

What happened in Mayfield?

Mayfield may have taken the hardest hit from the tornado.

The storm moved into the town around midnight and left a trail of destruction as it moved through. Mayfield's historic courthouse lost its roof, and several other buildings in the downtown area were destroyed.

A large number of casualties are believed to have occurred at a candle production factory that suffered a collapsed roof, Beshear said. Several employees were in the building at the time of the collapse.

In an interview on NBC's Today show, Kyana Parsons-Perez, an employee of the candle factory who was at the facility at the time of the collapse, said she was trapped in the building for two hours.

"Everything happened so fast," she said on the show. "... You could hear people screaming and praying in Spanish and just hollering and trying to figure out what to do."

What happened in Bowling Green and at WKU?

Bowling Green, in south-central Kentucky near the Tennessee border, also took significant damage.

Most buildings on the campus of Western Kentucky University were "largely spared from significant damage," school Presiden Tim Caboni said in a statement, and no students who live on campus were killed or injured. But Caboni confirmed one student who lived off campus and was set to graduate Saturday had a close relative who was killed during the storm at his Bowling Green home.

Additional damage took place around the city, which has about 67,000 residents, and commencement ceremonies that had been scheduled for Saturday were canceled.

"A complete evaluation will take some time, as our main focus right now is making sure that everyone in out campus community is safe," Caboni wrote. "In the coming days and weeks we will repair any damage and clear debris. But the significance of this event will remain with us forever."

Lucas Aulbach can be reached at laulbach@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4649 or on Twitter @LucasAulbach.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: What we know about Kentucky tornadoes, storm damage, outages & deaths