A massive wave of storms hit the southern, central and eastern United States with devastating winds and powerful tornadoes, killing at least 26 people and injuring dozens more in at least eight U.S. states.
A spokesman for the emergency management agency in Tennessee, one of the states hardest hit by the storms since Friday, confirmed to AFP seven deaths from the weather conditions.
This is in addition to the 11 deaths previously reported in the southern states of Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama and Indiana and Illinois in the Midwest. The spate of storms hit the east coast of the US this Saturday, with storms, hail and strong winds predicted through late Sunday.
On Friday, several tornadoes hit Arkansas, including in the capital Little Rock, where at least five people were killed. Daylight revealed extensive damage, destroying several homes, overturning cars, downing power lines and ripping trees from the ground.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to aid in recovery efforts.
Drone footage showed the massive damage caused by a tornado in the Little Rock area of Arkansas https://t.co/jvT3cwIzBl pic.twitter.com/8VLzLckTuI
– Reuters (@Reuters) April 1, 2023
Sanders said he has spoken with President Joe Biden, who has promised to streamline federal aid.
The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was “cut in half by damage from east to west,” Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told CNN.
The National Weather Service has also issued tornado warnings for several other states, from northern Iowa to the southern state of Mississippi, where a tornado killed 25 people and caused extensive property damage last week.
The disaster also affected the town of Belvidere, Illinois, on the outskirts of Chicago, when bad weather caused the roof and part of the facade of the Apollo Theater to collapse while a heavy metal band played on stage.
TV footage showed rescue crews carrying injured spectators on stretchers, while a video posted to social media showed waist-deep debris on the floor of the venue, as well as a hole in the ceiling.
Belvidere fire chief Shawn Schadle reported one dead and 28 injured, including five people hospitalized with serious injuries.
In the neighboring state of Indiana, three people were killed by a storm in Sullivan County, on the border with Illinois, several US media reported, citing local officials.
Jacksonville Arkansas Tornado, a lot of damage! #arwx pic.twitter.com/5HKemZhtaR
– Stephanie Cox (@Stormwatcher771) March 31, 2023
Nighttime tornadoes also killed one person in Pontotoc County, Mississippi and another in Madison County, Alabama.
According to the website poweroutage.us, more than 600,000 households were without power on Saturday. As the storm moved northeast, most of the Saturday afternoon power outages occurred in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Several states on the Atlantic coast received strong wind warnings. “Maximum wind gusts could approach 100 miles,” the National Weather System warned.
Tornadoes are common in the United States, especially in the central and southern parts of the country. As of December 2021, tornadoes have claimed an estimated 80 lives in Kentucky.
Source: DN
