Before and after photos show scale of tornado destruction in Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas

A rare December tornado outbreak across multiple states killed at least 74 people, with many more unaccounted for, on a path of destruction that nearly leveled entire towns.

One of the tornados managed to cross four states — Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky — in four hours, some people dubbing it a “Quad-State Tornado.” Communities like Mayfield, Kentucky, were almost entirely devastated, and thousands of people have been displaced.

Satellite images from before and after the storm show the level of devastation in some of the worst-hit areas.

Amazon warehouse

Six people were killed in Edwardsville, Illinois, when an EF3 tornado touched down at an Amazon warehouse.

The storm destroyed part of the building the length of a football field, causing 40-foot-tall concrete walls to collapse inward on both sides, and the roof fell, Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford said.

Search and rescue crews were sorting through the site over the weekend to find potential survivors.

Monette Manor Nursing Home

Preliminary reviews of reports from Arkansas showed that three tornadoes touched down in the northeastern part of the state. Monette Manor Nursing Home in Monette was almost razed to the ground.

One person died at the home, and five more people were seriously injured.

Mayfield candle factory

The Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, was among the hardest-hit locations. At least eight people were killed when the factory’s roof collapsed, sparking a long search and rescue effort over the weekend.

A survivor, Mark Saxton, said he looked outside Friday night after a third tornado warning unsettled him. It was then, he said, that he saw a tornado headed in his direction and he began to back up to a tornado-safe hallway.

But it was too late, he said.

“Tiles and concrete started falling,” he said. Walls imploded. “Everyone started running, so I just dropped to the ground. I got in a fetal position, and the concrete slab fell on top of me.”

At least four factory workers said supervisors warned employees that they would be fired if they left their shifts early to seek shelter.

Mayfield, Kentucky

Outside the candle factory, the community didn’t fair much better. Mayfield Mayor Kathy Stewart O’Nan told NBC’s “Nightly News” over the weekend that the town “is gone.”

“We knew it was bad, but not till the sun started coming up did we look at it and saw matchsticks,” she said. “Our hearts are broken.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was unable to give a full estimate of how many residences were gone in the area, but he estimated that the state lost thousands of homes. The streets of Mayfield, population 10,000, were filled with debris, torn-down power lines and trees ripped from the ground.

Wayne Flint, whose family restaurant was flattened, said he was ready to rebuild. “There’s nothing left here. So all we can do is just clean up and start again,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to do. … I don’t know what else to do.”