[ad_1]
A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Saturday, spawning deadly weather including tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, collapsed the roof of a theater during a heavy metal concert in Illinois and made a fatal sweep to rural Indiana.
The storm caused three deaths in Sullivan County, Indiana, Emergency Management Director Jim Pirtle said in an email to The Associated Press early Saturday. The storm destroyed homes and left several residents missing in the county seat of Sullivan, located near the Illinois state line, 152 kilometers southwest of Indianapolis.
At least one person has been killed and more than two dozen injured, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also damaged, and officials reported two deaths there, as well as damaged homes and people trapped in the debris.
Authorities say a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Ill., killing one person and injuring 28, five of them seriously. The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and calls began to come from the theater at 7:48 pm It said that the initial assessment was that the tornado had caused damage.
‘absolute chaos’
It collapsed at the Apollo Theater during a heavy metal concert in the city located 113 kilometers northwest of Chicago.
Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were at the scene. He said first responders also rescued people from elevators and had to fight downed power lines outside the theater.
Belvidere Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as “chaos, absolute chaos.”
Gabrielle Lewellyn had just entered the theater when part of the ceiling collapsed.
“I was there a few minutes before it went down,” he told WTVO-TV. “The wind, when I walked up to the building, it was like from zero to a thousand in five seconds.”
Several people rushed to lift the collapsed part of the ceiling and pull people out of the rubble, said Lewellyn, who was not hurt.
“They dragged him out of the wreckage and I sat with him and I held his hand and I (told him) ‘It’s going to be OK.’ I don’t know what to do.”
A wide swath of the US is threatened with extinction,
There were other twisters confirmed in Iowa and grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, as the storm system threatened to wipe out a wide swath of the country home to some 85 million people.
The devastating weather comes as US President Joe Biden tours after a deadly tornado hit Mississippi a week ago and promises the government will help the region recover.
The Little Rock tornado first ripped through the neighborhood on the west side of the city and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding towns, where damage was widespread to homes, businesses and vehicles.
In the afternoon, officials in Pulaski County announced the confirmed death in North Little Rock but did not immediately provide details.
Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock officials told KATV this afternoon that 21 people have been admitted there with injuries caused by the tornado, including five in critical condition.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr., who announced that he was requesting help from the National Guard, tweeted in the afternoon that property damage was extensive and “we are still responding.”
It was really quiet, then it got really loud
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders activated 100 members of the Arkansas National Guard to help local authorities respond to the damage across the state.
In Little Rock, resident Niki Scott took cover in the bathroom after her husband called to say the tornado was headed her way. He could hear glass breaking as the tornado passed, and went outside to find that his house was one of the few on the street where no trees had fallen.
“It’s just like everyone said. It went quiet, then it got really loud,” Scott said afterward, as chainsaws roared and sirens blared in the area.
At Clinton National Airport, passengers and workers took temporary refuge in bathrooms.
“Praying for all who are and stay in the path of this storm,” Sanders, who declared a state of emergency, said on Twitter.
About 80 miles west of Memphis, Tenn., the small town of Wynne, Ark., saw widespread tornado damage, Sanders confirmed.
‘We can’t go home’
St. Francis County Coroner Miles J. Kimble told the AP by phone Friday night that he was assisting the Cross County Coroner in Wynne and two people died in the tornado.
The governor during a briefing with Little Rock officials on Friday night said the death toll could rise.
City Councilwoman Lisa Powell Carter said the city of Wynne is without power and the streets are full of debris.
“I panicked trying to go home, but I couldn’t go home,” he said. “Wynne has been demolished … there are houses destroyed, trees down the road.”
The relentless tornado continued to spread and touch the area well into the night.
The police department in Covington, Tenn., said on Facebook that the west Tennessee town was impassable after power lines and trees fell on roads as the storm passed through Friday afternoon. Authorities in Tipton County, north of Memphis, said a tornado was seen approaching a high school in Covington and other locations in the rural county.
[ad_2]
Source link