Britainy Beshear, the wife of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, broke down in tears during a speech in the wake of the tornado damage in the state.

A two-month-old girl has become one of the youngest victims of the tornado in Kentucky and five surrounding states after she died from her injuries sustained during the storm.

Oaklynn Koon died on Monday, according to her parents Douglas and Jackie.

“At least I know who will be watching over you up there for me. My dad,” Douglas Koon wrote on Facebook. “God this doesn’t seem real.”

All workers that were inside the Mayfield candle factory when it was hit by a tornado are now accounted for, according to reports.

A factory spokesman confirmed to the Louisville Courier Journal that all 110 workers on shift are now accounted for, with 102 surviving. He said the fact that only eight were killed was a “miracle situation”.

The mayor of Dawson Springs, Kentucky, has said there is nowhere for residents to shelter after their homes were destroyed by the tornadoes.

Mayor Chris Smalley told CNN on Monday night: “We’re hoping FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] comes in here and tries to set up something here.

“We are a small town as well as also a small area as well. So, it’s gonna be hard to find a place to put the temporary housing and stuff.”

Workers at a Kentucky candle factory that was destroyed by tornados last week say they were told they would be fired if they tried to leave their shifts early, according to reports. At least four workers at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Mayfield, Kentucky told NBC News that bosses refused them permission to leave the building even as warning sirens began to wail. At least eight people died in the factory when it was torn apart on Friday night.

A spokesman for the Company categorically denied that employees had been threatened with firing or told not to leave.

A respected climate scientist has raised alarm that this weekend’s tornadoes were the result of global warming, not a random weather event.

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, issued his warning on Democracy Now!’s The War and Peace Report on Monday.

“We tend to call these things natural disasters, but this isn’t a natural disaster,” he said. “This is a disaster that was exacerbated by human-caused climate change.”

Mr Mann continued: “Make no mistake, we have been seeing an increase in these massive tornado outbreaks that can be attributed to the warming of the planet.

“But what’s going to happen here, we’re going to continue to see that climate change is going to combine with natural factors, like the La Niña event that we’re experiencing, to produce ever more extreme examples of these sorts of phenomena.”

Five of the 74 confirmed fatalities in Kentucky have yet to be identified, Gov Beshear said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

A further 109 people remain missing across the state. The governor has said it could take weeks to finalise the death toll due to the mountain of wreckage faced by search crews.

Watch the governor’s emotional update below:

The death toll from Friday’s storms rose to 88 on Monday afternoon as 10 new fatalities were confirmed in Kentucky.

The Independent’s Gustaf Kilander explains everything we know about the victims so far:

In the wake of Friday’s devastating storms, many have pointed the finger of blame at climate change.

Scientists say it’s too early to know if that’s actually the case, but that’s not a reason to balk at the possibility. The Independent’s Louise Boyle explains:

Jeff Bezos has been criticised on social media for continuing to cheer on his latest venture in space tourism amid the aftermath of a deadly tornado at an Amazon warehouse.

At least six people were killed at the Amazon distribution centre in Edwardsville, Illinois after a tornado led to the collapse of the building on Friday night.

There was initially no reaction to the news from Mr Bezos online, however, as the billionaire instead dedicated his social media posts to Saturday’s launch of the New Shepard rocket with six space tourists, including Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of first US astronaut Alan Shepard after whom the rocket is named.

“Happy crew this morning in the training centre,” said Mr Bezos in an Instagram post on Saturday morning. The crew also included former NFL star and Good Morning America host Michael Strahan, as well as four other paying customers.

“You should worry about the tornado situation more,” wrote one user in response to the post.

“Will any of your Amazon workers ever take the flight?” slammed another.

The Independent’s Namita Singh reports: