(Trends Wide) — Four people were killed in structural collapses in Illinois during storms on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to 21, after devastating storms and tornadoes ripped through the South and Midwest from Friday through early Saturday morning.
Seven weather-related deaths were also previously confirmed in McNairy County, Tennessee, as the threat of more severe weather loomed on Saturday afternoon.
The latest deaths were confirmed in McNairy County, Tennessee, as the threat of more severe weather loomed on Saturday afternoon.
More than 50 preliminary reports of tornadoes in at least six states, including Arkansas, where the storms killed five people: four in the small town of Wynne and another person in North Little Rock, local officials said.
Three people were killed in Indiana by a storm Friday night that damaged homes and a volunteer fire department near Sullivan, a city about 95 miles (59 km) southwest of Indianapolis, state police Sgt. Matt said. Ames.
Tornado damage is seen in Sullivan, Indiana, on Saturday, April 1, 2023. Doug McSchooler/AP
In Madison County, Alabama, one person was killed and five were injured overnight, authorities said during a news conference Saturday morning.
In Pontotoc County, Mississippi, one person was killed and four others were injured, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Allen Strickland, McNairy County director of emergency management, confirmed the seven deaths in the county, which lies in southern Tennessee between Nashville and Memphis, on Saturday afternoon.
At least 50 people were sent to hospitals in Arkansas’ Pulaski County, where a tornado ripped through the Little Rock area on Friday, county spokeswoman Madeline Roberts said. Five other people were hospitalized after a tornado struck Friday in Covington, Tennessee, according to a Baptist Memorial Health Care spokesperson. The roads were impassable.
Homes on E. Kiehl Ave. in Sherwood, Arkansas, sustained extensive damage Friday after what is believed to be a tornado swept through the area. (Colin Murphey/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/AP)
In Little Rock, the “impact is devastating,” Mayor Frank Scott told Trends Wide on Saturday. “Literally, in a matter of minutes, it went through the entire western part of the city of Little Rock… It just came out of nowhere.”
At least 2,100 residents in the tornado’s path were affected, he said. Neighborhoods and commercial businesses were devastated.
More than 30,000 people are still without power, he said.
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Preliminary information shows that at least 22 tornadoes were reported in Illinois, eight in Iowa, four in Tennessee, five in Wisconsin and a couple in Mississippi.
In Arkansas, at least a dozen tornadoes were reported, including in the Little Rock area. Tornadoes in that state left houses nearly flat and roads covered with what were once the roofs and walls of buildings.
William Williams, who works at a Kroger supermarket in Little Rock, told Trends Wide affiliate KATV that he is “grateful to be alive” after a tornado passed near the area while he was working Friday afternoon. He took refuge inside the store and then went outside to check on the injured people, including a woman who he said had a serious leg injury.
“It all happened in about five seconds. It’s here, boom,” Williams told KATV. “You could hear a lot of commotion and stuff. … I went out, and it’s crazy. People had blood all over their faces… I’m thankful to be alive.”
About 100 miles (62 km) east of Little Rock, the town of Wynne was “basically cut in half by damage from east to west,” Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told Trends Wide Friday night.
“We are still in triage mode,” Hobbs said, adding that crews were trying to determine the severity of the damage and potential injuries.
Some houses in Wynne — home to about 8,000 residents — were completely destroyed in piles of wood, while others had their roofs torn off, exposing the interiors of the houses littered with storm debris, drone footage provided to shows shows. Trends Wide by Ray Sharp. Many trees fell, rendering what appear to be residential roads impassable and damaging structures.
Friday’s severe storms came a week after severe weather swept through the Southeast, killing at least 26 people. An overnight tornado, which makes people more prone to extensive damage, tore through much of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where estimated top winds of 170 mph (273 km/h) roared.
A Summit Energy team prays together before investigating a ruptured gas line in Cammack Village, Arkansas, near Little Rock, after a tornado tore through the area Friday.
The roof of a theater collapses in the middle of storms
In northern Illinois, more than 200 people were inside the Apollo Theater in Belvidere for an event when its roof collapsed Friday night, killing one person and injuring dozens, the city’s fire marshal said. The collapse occurred as a bundle of thunderstorms with 50 mph (80 km/h) winds and hail moved through the area, according to officials and the National Weather Service. It was not immediately clear if the storm caused the roof of the theater to collapse.
Twenty-eight people were taken to hospitals as a result of the collapse, Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said.
Meanwhile, in Indiana, the storm swept through Sullivan County, trapping the wife of a local official inside her home until her son rescued her.
Tornado damage is seen in Sullivan, Indiana, on Saturday, April 1, 2023. Doug McSchooler/AP
Jim Pirtle, the county’s emergency management director, told Trends Wide his home and many others were destroyed Friday night.
“I called (my wife) 45 minutes before it happened. I said, ‘Robin, you have to go somewhere.’ We don’t have a basement,” Pirtle said. “I was on the phone with her and she was crying, ‘Jim, I love you,’ and the storm started tearing the house apart.
“We got hit a lot,” Pirtle said, speaking by phone from Florida, adding that he was working with emergency officials remotely.
“I’m still not sure about the deaths,” he added. “We still have missing people.”
Homes in Sullivan, a city that is home to about 4,000 residents, suffered extensive damage from the storm, Mayor Clint Lamb said.
“We need all citizens to stay safe and stay put,” Lamb said in a Facebook post overnight. “Responders need clear streets to be able to attend to the affected areas. Please pray for the Sullivan families and public safety personnel.”
Howard, Johnson and Sullivan counties have been hit hard by the storms, according to meteorologist Andrew White with the Indianapolis Office of the National Weather Service.
However, the damage in Howard County was minor and no injuries were reported, according to emergency management director Janice Hart.
Police and firefighters receive help from volunteers clearing downed trees on Kiehl Avenue after storms ripped through the area Friday in Sherwood, Arkansas. Thomas Metthe/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/AP
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb declared a disaster emergency Saturday for Sullivan and Johnson counties, saying Indiana officials were working with FEMA to assess the damage.
More tornadoes could be on the way
As of Saturday morning, about 70 million people are at slight risk of severe weather, a level 2 of 5, in parts of the Ohio Valley, the Northeast, including New York City and Philadelphia, and parts of the Southeast, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
Storms in the southeast are expected to remain strong to severe through Saturday afternoon, but these storms should move offshore by night.
A round of severe storms, including damaging winds, is expected to pick up in parts of the Northeast this afternoon into the evening. These storms could affect some of the large cities in the Northeast, including Philadelphia, New York and Boston at night.
On Friday, large hail proved dangerous as it pummeled northern Illinois, cracking and denting car windshields, according to a Facebook post from the Fulton County Disaster and Emergency Services Agency.
78 miles (125 km) southeast of there, several businesses were “basically destroyed,” Sheriff Jack Campbell told Trends Wide, and as many as 40 homes were damaged around Sherman, less than 10 miles north of Springfield.
Nearly 450,000 homes and businesses were blacked out early Saturday morning in Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee, with about a third of reported outages in Indiana, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us.
In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency, noting that the state will “spare no resources” to respond to and recover from the storm, and activated the state National Guard.
Aya Elamroussi, Rebekah Riess, Sara Smart, Mallika Kallingal, Andy Rose, Gene Norman, Mike Saenz, Paradise Afshar y Christina Maxouris de Trends Wide contribuyeron a este informe.
