Tornadoes strike Arkansas and Illinois, killing at least 7 people
The destructive weather comes as President Joe Biden tours the aftermath of a deadly tornado that hit Mississippi a week ago.
First responders in the US state of Arkansas scoured the rubble for more possible victims after a fierce tornado swept through the state, killing at least three people and injuring dozens.
The tornado ripped roofs and walls off many buildings on Saturday, overturned vehicles and toppled trees and power lines.
An explosion of extreme spring weather engulfed much of the United States on Friday, threatening the central portion of the country from Texas to the Great Lakes with thunderstorms and tornadoes.
The storm caused three fatalities in Sullivan County, Indiana, said Jim Pirtle, Director of Emergency Management.
In northern Illinois, one person was killed and 28 injured when the storm tore the roof off a theater during a heavy metal concert.
Two fatalities in Arkansas occurred in Wynne, about 100 miles east of Little Rock, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
Although more than 30 people in the Little Rock area were taken to the hospital, no one died Friday night, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said. Adding the count remained imprecise.
“It’s really by the grace of God that we haven’t experienced any fatalities so far,” Scott told a news conference.
Among the many areas affected was a portion of West Little Rock that is home to 2,100 people, Assistant Police Chief Andre Dyer said.
Two states away in Belvidere, Illinois, a riverside town near the Wisconsin border, one person died and 28 others were rushed by ambulance to area hospitals, five with serious injuries, fire chief Shawn Schadle told reporters.
Schadle said about 260 people attended the concert at the city’s Apollo Theater, which featured Morbid Angel as part of the group’s Tour of Terror.
Concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO television that people took refuge in the basement when the roof collapsed.
Some people rushed to lift the collapsed section of the ceiling and pull people out of the rubble, said Lewellyn, who was not injured.
“They pulled someone out of the rubble. And I sat with him and I held his hand and I said everything will be fine. I didn’t really know much else what to do,” Lewellyn said.
The turbulent weather came as President Joe Biden toured the wreckage of a major storm that hit the state of Mississippi last week.
The swarm of thunderstorms unleashed a deadly tornado that devastated the Mississippi town of Rolling Fork, destroying many of the community’s 400 homes and killing 25 people. One person was killed in neighboring Alabama.
Bident vowed to rebuild in Mississippi as meteorologists warned millions of people to brace themselves for massive storms to break over at least 15 states in the Midwestern and Southern U.S., with more than 85 million people under weather advisories on Friday.