Devastating storms and tornadoes ripped through the South and Midwest on Friday and early Saturday, killing at least ten people, injuring dozens more, trapping others in their homes, and causing significant damage to businesses and critical infrastructure – with the threat of more severe weather looming into Saturday afternoon.
More than 50 preliminary tornado reports were received in at least seven states on Friday, including Arkansas, where storms killed five people – four in the small town of Wynne and one in North Little Rock, according to local officials.
State Police Sgt. Matt Ames said three individuals were killed in Indiana by a storm Friday night that damaged homes and a volunteer fire station near Sullivan, a city about a 95-mile drive southwest of Indianapolis.
One person died and five were injured overnight in Madison County, Alabama, officials announced during a news conference Saturday morning.
According to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, one person died and four others were injured in Pontotoc County, Mississippi.
At least 50 people were sent to hospitals in Pulaski County, Arkansas, after a tornado ripped through the Little Rock region on Friday, according to county spokesperson Madeline Roberts. A tornado struck Covington, Tennessee, on Friday, killing five people and injuring five more, according to a Baptist Memorial Health Care representative. Roads were rendered inaccessible.
The “effect is terrible” in Little Rock, Mayor Frank Scott told AWN on Saturday. “It literally went through the entire western portion of Little Rock in a couple of minutes… It simply came out of nowhere.”
He estimated that 2,100 people were affected by the tornado’s passage. Neighborhoods and commercial establishments were destroyed.
According to him, more over 30,000 individuals are still without power.
According to preliminary data, at least 22 tornadoes were reported in Illinois, eight in Iowa, four in Tennessee, five in Wisconsin, and two in Mississippi.
At least a dozen tornadoes were reported in Arkansas, including one in the Little Rock region. Twisters in Arkansas virtually flattened homes and covered highways with what were once building roofs and walls.
William Williams, an employee at a Kroger grocery in Little Rock, told AWN affiliate KATV that he is “thankful to be alive” after a tornado blew through the neighbourhood while he was working Friday afternoon. He’d taken refuge inside the shop and returned outside to find others hurt, including a woman with a terrible leg injury.
“That all happened in about five seconds. “It came – bam,” Williams explained to KATV. “There was a lot of bustle and things.” … I step outdoors, and it’s insane. People’s faces were covered in blood. … I’m just grateful to be alive.”
Wynne, about 100 miles east of Little Rock, was “essentially divided in two by damage from east to west,” Mayor Jennifer Hobbs said Friday evening.
“We’re still in triage mode,” Hobbs said, adding that personnel were assessing the extent of the damage and any potential injuries.
Some Wynne homes were entirely crushed into piles of wood, while others had their roofs ripped off, exposing the inside of homes covered with storm debris, according to drone footage provided to AWN by Ray Sharp. Several trees fell, rendering what appear to be residential roads inaccessible and causing structural damage.
The violent storms on Friday came just a week after severe weather devastated the Southeast, killing at least 26 people. An overnight tornado, with estimated maximum speeds of 170 mph, flattened parts of Rolling Fork, Mississippi.
