At least 18 dead after tornadoes and severe storms in the United States

The town of Wynne was devastated by the storm that hit the southern United States and the Midwest on April 1, 2023. © CHENEY ORR / REUTERS

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

At least 18 people have died in the southern and east-central United States as tornadoes and severe storms tornadoes and violent storms tore homes and businesses to pieces, as the northeast braces Saturday for possible powerful thunderstorms.

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Of the states hit by the elements, Tennessee is the one that has paid the heaviest price. The spokeswoman for the local disaster management agency reported seven deaths, all in McNairy County, east of Memphis. Devastating tornadoes also swept through Arkansas on Friday, killing five people, the governor of the rural southern state said at a news conference. Little Rock, the capital, was hit hard. Residents woke up to upturned cars, huge trees uprooted, telephone poles smashed and houses gutted.

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We know that many people have had to be displaced and are looking for refuge " said the mayor of Little Rock. "The roofs of some buildings have been completely blown out," a journalist for a local business publication said Friday. "The neighborhood was simply razed to the ground and destroyed." The northeastern town of Wynne was "roughly cut in half by east-west damage," its mayor told CNN.

Wastewater Treatment Plant in #Wynne AR is destroyed with a whole pump being ripped away from its plumbing. #arwx #tormadodamage pic.twitter.com/7RqLPAPMpT

— Michael Gordon (@WX_ManMike) April 1, 2023

Mississippi authorities reported one dead and several injured in Pontotoc County, about 200 miles south of Memphis. An elderly person was also killed in Alabama when a tornado hit his home, detailed the authorities of the city of Huntsville, near the border with Tennessee.

Collapse of a building in the middle of a concert

In the north of the country, in the small town of Belvidere, part of the roof and façade of the Apollo Theatre collapsed in the middle of a heavy metal band concert due to the passage of a violent storm. The fire chief of this locality located west of Chicago, Illinois, reported one dead and 28 injured, including five hospitalized with serious injuries.

Roof collapses during concert by Morbid Angel at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere, Illinois.

There are reports of multiple victims#morbidangel #apollotheatre #belvidere #illinois #tornado #storm #weather #breakingnews pic.twitter.com/ptmYoSkm4o

— Crime With Bobby (@crimewithbobby) April 1, 2023

In the neighboring state of Indiana, three people were killed by a storm in Sullivan County, according to authorities, quoted by several US media. More than 650,000 homes were without power Saturday in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the US website PowerOutage.

The National Weather Service also warned of high winds, potential tornadoes and severe storms that could hit the northeast of the country, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York State, on Saturday, with gusts of up to 95 km / h.

Tornadoes, weather phenomena as impressive as they are difficult to predict, are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country. A week ago, a tornado swept across the Mississippi River, killing 25 people and causing immense property damage. President Joe Biden visited the site on Friday. In December 2021, about 80 people lost their lives after tornadoes hit Kentucky.

Tornado out of Nebraska pic.twitter.com/HWwBdSpjKv

— 🏴 ☠️InTylerWeTrust🏴 ☠️🥃🤍 (@bourbonislife80) April 1, 2023

► Read also: Los Angeles hit by a powerful tornado, never seen since 1983

(

With AFP)

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