Collision victims in Mississippi and Ohio, and a tornado watch for Arkansas and Missouri, and the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock
There is also a marginal risk of severe storms, Level 1 of 5, that extends from northeastern Texas to southern Minnesota and east to Michigan and West Virginia.
“Residents are advised to remain weather-aware and have multiple ways to receive weather alerts,” the Weather Prediction Center said. “Along with the severe weather threat, storms may also contain intense rainfall rates that could last long enough to produce isolated-to-scattered areas of flash flooding.”
In western Mississippi, 13 people were killed in Sharkey County. In Rolling Fork, winds of up to 200 mph (322 kph) demolished homes, flipped cars and knocked over the town’s water tower.
Tornadoes still could happen in southeastern Indiana, western Ohio and northern Kentucky on Saturday through 5 a.m. ET, according to the Storm Prediction Center. A tornado watch was in effect for Dayton and Cincinnati, and it warned of wind gusts up to 70 mph.
There were at least a dozen tornadoes reported in Arkansas. Twisters in that state left homes nearly leveled, and roads were covered with what once was the roofs and walls of buildings.
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 were already transported to the medical center, but an exact number was not immediately available.
The aftermath of the Little Rock tornado: A woman’s best friend in a storm-orbiting state. When she woke, someone broke her window
After her husband called and said a tornado was headed her way, she hid in the bathroom. 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.
The Little Rock Fire Department reported heavy damage and debris in the western end of the city, saying on its Facebook page that firefighters were performing rescue operations in the area.
“Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm,” she wrote on Twitter. “Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through.”
Passengers and airport employees at Clinton National Airport took shelter in bathrooms and were ordered to stay there until 3:45 p.m. Aerial footage showed several rooftops were torn from homes in Little Rock and nearby Benton.
In Oklahoma, high wind gusts between 50 and 60 mph caused a lot of grass fires. People were told to leave their homes in far northeast Oklahoma City and troopers had shut down portions of I 35 near the suburb of Edmond.
Dylan Dodson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Des Moines, said there were two confirmed tornadoes Friday afternoon in eastern Iowa but it was too early to estimate their size or how much damage they had caused. Poweshiek County sheriff’s deputies said one touched down in an empty field and there were no reports of injuries.
According to a post on the Fulton County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, large hail caused significant damage to cars in northern Illinois on Friday.
The National Weather Service issued tornado watches for parts of Missouri, Arkansas and Iowa, as well as western Illinois and parts of Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi.
Forecasters warned of a “relatively rare, significant severe weather threat” around Chicago that could include powerful winds, tornadoes and large hail.
High-Average Tropical Storms and Fatal Clumps in South Dakota, Arkansas, and Minnesota, as reported by the U.S. Department of Interior and Environmental Protection
The University of Iowa decided against a watch party for fans because of the women’s basketball Final Four game.
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, Gov. Kristi Noem ordered state executive branch offices to be closed Friday in parts of the state, as freezing rain, snow and high winds were expected. There were a lot of counties under warnings.
The weather service is forecasting another batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week. Brandon Buckingham of Accuweather stated earlier this week that there will be some rough days in the first 10 days of April.
More than 50 preliminary tornado reports were made Friday in at least six states, including in Arkansas, where storms killed three people – two in the small city of Wynne and another person in North Little Rock, local officials said.
Two people were killed in Indiana when a storm hit the area around Sullivan, a city about a 95-mile drive southwest of Indianapolis. “Matt Ames said that.”
“At the end of the tunnel”: William Williams recounts how a tornado hit Little Rock, and a woman sustained a leg injury
William Williams is an employee at a Kroger in Little Rock, and he told CNN that he was thankful to be alive after a tornado hit the area. He went outside to look at the injured, including a woman he said had a severe leg injury.
“Everything happened in like five seconds. Williams told KATV that it came. A lot of commotion could be heard. … I go outside, and it is crazy. The people had blood all over them. … I’m just thankful that I’m alive.”
About 100 miles east of Little Rock, the city of Wynne was “basically cut in half by damage from east to west,” Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told CNN Friday evening.
Thousands of people lost their homes and businesses in Belvidere, Illinois, after a tornado that collapsed on the night of November 14
In northern Illinois, more than 200 people were inside the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere for an event when its roof collapsed Friday night, leaving one person dead and dozens injured, the city fire chief said. The collapse came as a line of storms packing 50 mph winds and dumping hail moved through the area, according to officials and the National Weather Service. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the storm caused the theater’s roof to crumble.
About 78 miles southeast of there, several businesses were “basically destroyed,” Sheriff Jack Campbell told CNN, and up to 40 homes were damaged around Sherman, less than 10 miles north of Springfield.
Nearly 300,000 homes and businesses were in the dark early Saturday across Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee, with about one-third of the outages reported in Indiana, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us.
The governor of Arkansas declared a state of emergency and activated the state’s National Guard to help respond to and recover from the storm.
“The damage and loss that our community suffered last night was catastrophic,” the Adamsville Police Department in McNairy County said on social media Saturday morning.
The local police department said that the city was “impassable” after the tornado. Homes were battered, power lines were downed and search and rescue teams were deployed, according to police.
In Little Rock, at least one person was killed and two dozen were hospitalized, local officials said. Homes, apartment complexes and storefronts were severely damaged, according to the Little Rock Police Department.
About 260 people were at the venue to attend a heavy metal concert and calls about a collapse began to come in at 7:48 p.m. local time, Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle told the AP.
Injuries and Deaths in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, due to Severe Weather: The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office
After learning members of the community had lost their lives, the Sullivan County Sheriff said their worst fears became a reality.
At least one person has died and four others were injured in Pontotoc County in northern Mississippi due to severe weather, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.