At least 21 people were killed by storms that produced perhaps dozens of tornadoes in small towns and major cities throughout the South and Midwest on Saturday. The storms also destroyed the roof of a crowded concert venue in Illinois and tore through the capitol of Arkansas.
In at least eight states, tornadoes that were confirmed or believed to have occurred destroyed houses and businesses, split trees, and decimated entire communities. Seven people were killed in one Tennessee county, four in the sleepy Arkansas town of Wynne, three in Sullivan, Indiana, and four in the state of Illinois.
In addition to the one reported in Little Rock, Arkansas, where municipal officials claimed more than 2,600 structures were in a tornado’s path, other fatalities from the storms that slammed Friday night into Saturday were also confirmed in Alabama and Mississippi.
Residents of Wynne, a town of 8,000 people located 80 kilometres west of Memphis, Tennessee, were shocked to discover the high school’s roof torn and its windows blown out when they got up on Saturday. Massive trees with reduced-to-nub stumps were lying on the ground. Homes and businesses were plagued by shattered walls, windows, and roofs.
Clothing, insulation, roofing paper, toys, splintered furniture, and a pickup vehicle with its windows broken were among the debris that was strewn over yards and inside the ruined shells of homes.
No one in the family was wounded, but Ashley Macmillan claimed she, her husband, and their children and pets were gathered in a small bathroom as a tornado passed, “praying and saying farewell to one other, because we believed we were dead.”
Then, she added, “everything just became peaceful.” She said, “We could feel the house shaking, we could hear loud noises, plates rattling.”
On Saturday, recovery efforts were under way, with workers using chain saws to clear away fallen trees and bulldozers to move debris from destroyed buildings. To restore power, utility trucks were at work.
According to David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville, at least seven people killed in Tennessee’s McNairy County, which is located east of Memphis and close to the Mississippi border.
Although it looked that everyone was accounted for, Leckner stated that “the majority of the damage has been done to residences and residential areas,” adding that teams were going door to door to make sure.
Several of the 260 people at a heavy metal performance in Belvidere, Illinois, dragged a 50-year-old man from the wreckage after a section of the roof fell; he was already dead when emergency personnel arrived. Authorities said that 40 additional individuals had been hurt, including two who had potentially fatal injuries.
Concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV, “They hauled someone out from the wreckage, and I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him), ‘It’s going to be Fine.’ I didn’t really know much else to do.”
On Saturday, workers proceeded to clean up the area around the Apollo, removing carelessly hung bricks using forklifts. Owners of businesses gathered up glass fragments and covered broken windows.
A mural featuring a huge black-and-white portrait of schoolchildren braving heavy winds and rain after a particularly powerful tornado devastated the small hamlet on April 21, 1967, killing 24, appeared across and down the street from the Apollo.
According to Bill Burke, the county board chair, a tornado that struck the area of New Hebron in Crawford County, Illinois, resulted in three fatalities and eight injuries.
60 to 100 households, according to sheriff Bill Rutan, were relocated.
At a press conference, Rutan stated, “We’ve had rescue teams excavating individuals out of their basements because the house is collapsing on top of them, but thankfully they had that safe spot to escape to.
Adam Niemerg, a lawmaker from Illinois, described the tornado as “catastrophic.”
Three individuals were killed in Sullivan County, Indiana, roughly 150 km southwest of Indianapolis, not far from that tornado.
The mayor of Sullivan City, Clint Lamb, stated during a press conference that a region of around 4,000 people south of the county seat “is practically unrecognisable right now” and that many individuals had been pulled out of the debris overnight. According to accounts, there were up to 12 injuries, and rescue personnel searched the wrecked sites.
In terms of human difficulties, he stated, “Quite frankly, I’m really, really amazed there isn’t more,” adding that healing “is going to be a very lengthy process.”
Authorities in the Little Rock region reported at least one fatality and more than 50 injuries, some of which were life-threatening.
The tornado, according to the National Weather Service, had winds of up to 265 kph and a course as long as 40 kilometres.
While eating lunch at home, Masoud Shahed-Ghaznavi witnessed the tornado tear through his neighbourhood. After windows broke and sheetrock crashed on his head, he ran for cover in his laundry room. The majority of the home was in ruins when he returned.
“I notice that the sky is all around me,” Shahed-Ghaznavi recounted. Friday night, he hardly got any rest.
He remarked on Saturday in front of his house, “When I closed my eyes, I couldn’t sleep, thought I was here.”
In order to assist local first responders, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders proclaimed a state of emergency and mobilised the National Guard.
According to county official Mac McCutcheon, a woman was killed in Madison County in northern Alabama by what seems to be a tornado. Moreover, authorities in Pontotoc County, in northern Mississippi, confirmed one death and four injuries.
Only hours before, President Joseph Biden had visited the Mississippi hamlet of Rolling Fork, where portions of the town had been damaged by tornadoes the week before.
Moreover, tornadoes damaged property in eastern Iowa and shattered glass on vehicles and structures northeast of Peoria, Illinois.
