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Dawson Springs, Kentucky (Associated Press)-Within hours of desperation after the storm hit, Andy Beshir took time from the duties of the governor of the worst-hit state earlier on Saturday Do what many of his fellow Kentucky people are doing.

Bashir called Dawson Springs time and time again to track down his cousin, Jenny.

"The story has a good ending," the state's Democratic governor Bashir said at a press conference on Monday. "It took me eight hours to get in touch with her, just calling her over and over again."

But his extended family is also a member of Kentucky, and they grieve for the loss of life caused by the storm. The governor said he had an uncle, and he lost two cousins ​​who died in Mulenberg County.

All of this can explain why Bashir, his state’s response to a historic tornado outbreak, sometimes shifts between a determined assertion (declaring that the Kentucky people are “strong enough to rebuild”) and primitive emotions. He mourned for every disaster-stricken town, but no topic touched him more than the disaster in Dawson Springs. This is his father's hometown and a place he has been to all his life.

"This is a place I will go, I will sit on the front porch of my grandparents," he said.

Bashir has been leading the state's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since taking office, but due to early uncertainty about the number of storm-related deaths, especially at a candle factory in Mayfield, he has been under scrutiny. The governor, a Democrat elected in a country largely controlled by Republicans, is known for his frequent oaths, "We will unite through this," first in the fight for the coronavirus, and now in response to the storm. He has visited the disaster-stricken areas several times and held several press conferences, making him the focus of national attention.

Dawson Springs is related to a small political dynasty in Bluegrass State. Beshear's father and the former two Democratic governors, Steve Beshear, grew up in the close-knit western Kentucky community, and local leaders estimated that at least 60% of the town’s nearly 3,000 people were “unrepairable”.

"This is a personal tragedy," Steve Beshir said in a telephone interview. "This is a pleasant small-town community. It is one of the places where it is easy to grow up, because everyone knows everyone, everyone pays attention to everyone. If you do something wrong, they (parents ) Know it before you go home."

The storm killed dozens of people in the state and paralyzed towns in large areas of western Kentucky. In Dawson Springs, as people realize that recovery will take years, houses and businesses are in ruins.

"In most cases, you can go three blocks and they all look like toothpicks," said Darryl Kelly, who delivers food and water through the town. "Many people just thank them for being alive."

Some couriers sent him to a ruin. Residents searched the wreckage, hoping to find property they could salvage.

"It's heartbreaking," he said. "I cry with them."

A family suffered an unspeakable tragedy-the death of a baby girl.

When the storm approached, Douglas Koon, his wife Jackie and their three children crowded in the bathroom of his mother-in-law in Dawson Springs. The tornado hit the house, leaving his family behind, and a bathtub was thrown into the air. The bathtub was protecting his two sons. The couple put their 2-month-old daughter, Okrine, in the car seat to protect her, and she seemed okay on Saturday.

By Sunday, the baby had a seizure and the doctor noticed a cerebral hemorrhage. Koon posted on Facebook that they thought she had a stroke.

Earlier Monday, the family announced that Oaklin had passed away. In a text message to the Associated Press on Monday, Koon said that he was trying to "handle everything I'm going through."

The destruction in the town is widespread. The top county official and executive judge Jack Whitfield Jr. said that "hundreds" of houses were destroyed in Dawson Springs. He estimated that between 60% and 75% of Hopkins County was "unrepairable."

"It looks like a bomb exploded," he said. "It was just completely destroyed in some places."

Andy Beshear described the grim view of the front porch that he visited with his grandparents as a child. The house where his father grew up is intact, but the damage is clearly visible.

The governor said: "A block up and left or right disappeared, only flattened."

Steve Bossey moved out of Dawson Springs decades ago, attended the University of Kentucky, and then established a successful career in law and politics, finally held as governor in 2007, and re-selected four years later. But his memory of the town will last forever. He gushed out the names of the streets directly hit by the storm.

He recalled the visit home and the intergenerational bonds-including his children riding in his father's small tractor.

"I think one of Andy's memories is riding down the street on the tractor sitting on Grandpa's lap," Bashir said. "We had a wonderful time as the children were growing up."

The name Beshear is still prominent in Dawson Springs because it is also the name of the funeral home that has been passed down from generation to generation in the family. According to Steve Beshear, it started as a funeral home and furniture store in 1909, founded by the uncle of the former governor. The governor's cousin Jenny Beshear Sewell, whom the governor tried to contact after the storm, is now the owner and president of the funeral home.

When Andy Bashir monitored the terrible damage report within a few hours of the storm, he realized that Dawson Springs had been hit hard. While the leader responded, he took the time to make a call, and the frantic search for his cousin would last for several hours.

"I want to see her later that day, because the moment the flight was safe, we went to Mayfield first and then to Dawson," he said. "Give her a hug."