Terrifying moment monster tornado rips apart Arkansas capital Little Rock with 80mph winds

Three people have been killed after tornadoes touched down in states across the Midwest including Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee and Iowa. 

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital, the state’s only major trauma center, declared a level-1 mass casualty alert after the tornado struck Little Rock.  

On Friday evening, a local area hospital reported treating at least 21 patients with 5 in critical condition, all victims of the tornado that touched down in the Little Rock area. 

The tornadoes have splintered homes and flattened entire neighborhoods, overturned vehicles and tossed trees and debris onto roads as people raced for shelter. 

Roofs and walls were ripped away from many buildings, while trees were uprooted, and vehicles flipped over. 

In Belvidere Illinois, twenty-eight people were injured and one was killed after high winds caused a roof to collapse on concertgoers gathered to see heavy metal band Morbid Angel.

The twister was spawned by one of a numerous violent thunderstorms raking a vast swath of the U.S. heartland as part of a much larger expanse of extreme spring weather. 

‘We’re operating in red status, with all hands on deck,’ said Aaron Gilkey, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) agency. 

There were two more confirmed twisters in Iowa, damaging hail fell in Illinois and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, part of a massive storm system threatening a broad swath of the country that is home to some 85 million people in the South and Midwest. 

The storms came just a week after more than two dozen deadly twisters tore through Mississippi and parts of Alabama killing at least 26.
Footage of the ferocious weather system was filmed from the 7th floor of the Little Rock Baptist Medical Center. The person filming could be heard gasping at the massive swirling twister as it came ever-closer.

A man, who appeared unaware of the vortex, was filmed standing on the roof of another building as the powerful tornado – which reportedly reached level 3 or ‘mass casualty’ strength – travelled towards him.

Another video in the wake of the massive system revealed debris scattered in the streets of Little Rock, which is just three-hours north west of Rolling Fork, where deadly storms hit last week.

Aerial footage posted by The Weather Channel showed a heavily damaged area of the city spanning several blocks with numerous homes missing roofs and walls, some of them collapsed, and overturned vehicles littering streets.

The National Weather Service also reported that tornado activity had destroyed several homes and downed trees in and around Little Rock.

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said on Twitter that he had asked Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to mobilize National Guard troops to assist in the emergency response.

Sanders signed an executive order to immediately authorize $250,000 from the state disaster response and recovery fund to be used at the discretion of the director of the state Division of Emergency Management, a local reporter tweeted.

The twister struck the capital city of Arkansas as an immense blast of extreme spring weather swept much of the United States, menacing the nation’s midsection from Texas to the Great Lakes with dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes.

‘At this time, we know of 24 people who have been hospitalized at Little Rock hospitals and we are not aware of any fatalities in Little Rock,’ Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said on Twitter.

Separately, Baptist Health Medical Center in the adjoining town of North Little Rock, just across the Arkansas River from the capital, reported treating 11 patients from the storm, one of them in critical condition. Local television station KTHV-TV reported one storm-related death in North Little Rock, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

Between five and 10 other people injured by the twister were treated at the emergency department of the Unity Health hospital in nearby Jacksonville, administrator Kevin Burton said.

The National Weather Service was tracking about 18 tornado reports, mostly in Arkansas and Iowa.

Tens of millions of Americans across the Great Plans, Midwest, South and East were under warnings and advisories for various weather hazards on Friday afternoon and evening and into the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

The weather service issued tornado watches for a region stretching from east Texas through the mid-South and Midwest as far north as Wisconsin, urging some 15 million people living in that area to prepare for violent twisters on Friday afternoon and evening.

‘This is a particularly dangerous situation,’ the weather service said.

Northeastern Arkansas, Missouri’s southern boot-heel, western Kentucky and western Tennessee were at greatest risk of severe thunderstorms capable of producing violent tornadoes, large hail and damaging straight-line winds, weather service said.

Several other major cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, and Memphis, were possibly in harm’s way of the severe weather, it added.

According to the Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services at least 600 people were injured in the Arkansas area alone. Meanwhile, a second tornado was spotted forming in Des Moines.

The destructive weather continued for hundreds of miles. In the tiny town of Wynne, 100 miles east of Little Rock, the police chief described it as ‘dozens’ being trapped with ‘total destruction all over town.

‘The town was basically cut in half by damage from east to west,’ Wynne Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told CNN on Friday evening. ‘We are still in triage mode.’ 

More than 350,000 people were at risk as what the National Weather Service called a ‘confirmed large and destructive tornado’ tore through business districts and neighborhoods in Little Rock and North Little Rock.

The Little Rock tornado tore first through neighborhoods in the western part of the city and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger grocery store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses and vehicles.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock was operating at a mass casualty level, spokesperson Leslie Taylor said. Several people had already been transported to the medical center, but an exact count was not immediately available.

Mark Hulsey, a special projects manager for Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock, said at least one person was in critical condition.

 Resident Niki Scott took cover in the bathroom after her husband called to say a tornado was headed her way. She could hear glass shattering as the tornado roared past, and emerged afterward to find that her house was one of the few on her street that didn’t have a tree fall on it.

‘It’s just like everyone says. It got really quiet, then it got really loud,’ Scott said afterward, as chainsaws roared and sirens blared in the area.

The Little Rock Fire Department reported heavy damage and debris in western Little Rock and said firefighters had carried out rescue operations in the area.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and said there was ‘significant damage’ in the central part of the state.

‘Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm,’ she tweeted. ‘Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through.’

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. announced that he was requesting assistance from the National Guard.

‘Please stay off the roads and away from the affected areas to allow emergency responders to work,’ Scott tweeted.

Outside a Little Rock Guitar Center, five people were captured on video aiming their phones at the swirling sky. ‘Uh, no, that’s an actual tornado, y’all. It´s coming this way,’ Red Padilla, a singer and songwriter in the band Red and the Revelers, said in the video.

Padilla said that he and five bandmates sheltered inside the store for around 15 minutes with over a dozen others while the tornado passed. The power went out, and they used the flashlights on their phones to see.

‘It was real tense,’ Padilla said.

At Clinton National Airport, passengers and workers sheltered temporarily in bathrooms.

The Little Rock Fire Department reported heavy damage and debris in the western end of the city. 

Firefighters were performing rescue operations in the area, the department said on its Facebook page. Other details were not immediately available.

Passengers and airport employees at Clinton National Airport in Little Rock took shelter in bathrooms and were ordered to stay there until 3:45pm. 

Aerial footage showed several rooftops were torn from homes in Little Rock and nearby Benton. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Nearly 89,000 customers in Arkansas were out of power on Friday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages.

About 32,000 were without power in neighboring Oklahoma, where where wind gusts between 50 and 60 mph fueled fast-moving grass fires. 

People were urged to evacuate homes in far northeast Oklahoma City, and troopers shut down portions of Interstate 35 near the suburb of Edmond.

More outages were reported in Kansas, Missouri and Texas.

The ‘intense supercell thunderstorms ‘ predicted for Friday afternoon are only expected to become more common, especially in Southern states, as temperatures rise around the world.

Apart from Little Rock, the major population centers at high risk for storms starting Friday afternoon include Chicago; St. Louis; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

‘There will be lots of thunderstorms … tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail,’ said Northern Illinois meteorology professor and tornado expert Victor Gensini.

People in those areas should stock emergency supplies, prepare for power outages, avoid getting stranded in places vulnerable to falling trees or severe hail, and park vehicles in garages if possible, meteorologists said.

Forecasters warned of a ‘relatively rare, significant severe weather threat’ around Chicago that could include powerful winds, tornadoes and large hail.

In Iowa City, the University of Iowa canceled Friday’s watch party for fans who planned to gather for the women’s basketball Final Four game against South Carolina. Deputy Director of Athletics Matt Henderson said in a statement the decision was made ‘due to the unpredictable timing of possible severe weather and potential storm impact.’

The weather service is forecasting another batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week. 

Tornado warnings were issued to 21 states with nearly 90 million people on Friday – as forecasters said conditions could be similar to those which caused death and destruction across the south last week. 

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms also has the potential to cause hail and damaging wind gusts, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. 

The warnings come just a week after a series of devastating tornadoes tore through Mississippi and parts of Alabama. Those storms obliterated towns and one cut a deadly path across 170 miles, leaving at least 25 dead in the two states.

Gensini said Friday’s atmospheric setup is similar to the conditions that were present during Mississippi’s deadly storm.

‘There will be lots of thunderstorms… tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail,’ he said.

People in areas under the latest warnings should stock emergency supplies, prepare for power outages, avoid getting stranded in places vulnerable to falling trees or severe hail, and park vehicles in garages if possible, meteorologists said.

The bad weather could also extend into Chicago, where forecasters warned of a ‘relatively rare, significant severe weather threat’ that includes powerful winds, tornadoes and large hail.

The hazardous forecast is a result of strong southerly winds transporting copious amounts of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico north, where they will interact with the strengthening storm system.

In South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem ordered state executive branch offices to be closed on Friday in parts of the state, as freezing rain, snow and high winds were expected. Many counties were under blizzard or ice storm warnings.

The weather service is also forecasting a further batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week. At least the first 10 days of April will be rough, Accuweather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.

Last Friday night’s vicious tornado in Mississippi killed dozens of people, injured many more and flattened entire blocks as it carved a path of destruction for more than an hour.

About 2,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

The toll was especially steep in western Mississippi’s Sharkey County, where 13 people were killed in a county of 3,700 residents. Winds of up to 200 mph (322 kph) barreled through the rural farming town of Rolling Fork, reducing homes to piles of rubble, flipping cars and toppling the town’s water tower.

Bill Bunting, the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center chief of forecasting operations, said people need to have a severe weather plan in place that includes multiple ways to receive storm warning information.

‘We’ve all seen the coverage of the heartbreaking situations in other parts of the country. Our fervent hope is that people pay attention to the forecasts that have been out for several days now regarding Friday’s threat,’ Bunting said.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden traveled to Rolling Fork on Friday.

Biden is expected to announce that the federal government will cover the total cost of the Mississippi’s emergency measures for the next 30 days, including overtime for first responders and debris cleanup.

The president and first lady will survey the damage, meet with homeowners impacted by the storms and first responders and get an operational briefing from federal and state officials. 

They’re expected to be joined by Governor Tate Reeves, Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Rep. Bennie Thompson.

In a statement after the tornado, Biden pledged that the federal government would ‘do everything we can to help’.

‘We will be there as long as it takes,’ he said. ‘We will work together to deliver the support you need to recover.’

Presidents regularly visit parts of the US that have been ravaged by natural disasters or suffered major loss of life from shootings or another disaster.

Republicans have criticized Biden for not yet making a trip to the site of a toxic chemical spill in a small Ohio town. 

He also has to decide whether to visit Nashville after three children and three adults were shot and killed at Covenant School.

Last week’s severe weather makes life even more difficult in an area already struggling economically. 

Mississippi is one of the poorest states, and the majority-Black Delta has long been one of the poorest parts of the state — a place where many people live paycheck to paycheck, often in jobs connected to agriculture.