At least 21 people were killed in several US states when a storm went through. Dozens more were injured in the tornadoes, and according to the state’s disaster control agency, seven people have died since Friday in Tennessee alone, which was particularly hard hit. Storms also wreaked havoc in southern Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama, and further north in Indiana and Illinois.
Tornadoes left a trail of destruction in Arkansas on Friday. According to Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, five people died in the capital Little Rock alone. Houses were leveled, cars blown over, trees uprooted and power poles destroyed. Governor Sanders declared a disaster and mobilized around a hundred National Guardsmen. On Saturday, she told journalists that she had discussed the situation with US President Joe Biden.
According to the Poweroutage.us website, almost 610,000 households in the affected states were without power by late Saturday evening (local time). There was an accident in a concert hall in the northern state of Illinois on Friday evening.
As a result of severe storms, the roof and part of the facade collapsed in the small town of Belvidere, west of Chicago, during a heavy metal concert. According to local fire chief Shawn Schadle, one person was killed and 28 others were injured. Five of them were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
In neighboring Indiana, police told WTHI television that three people had died after a storm passed through Sullivan County. Downed telephone poles, smashed houses and streets strewn with rubble could be seen in photos posted by the broadcaster on the online service Twitter.
The disaster service in the US state of Mississippi reported one dead and several injured in Pontotoc County, about 200 kilometers south of Memphis. In Alabama, a person died in his home when a tornado passed through, according to authorities in the city of Huntsville, near the Tennessee state border.
Tornadoes are difficult to predict. They are relatively common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.