At least 26 people have died across eight American states, authorities have reported
Residents clean up after the devastating tornadoes in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States on April 1, 2023. © Peter Zay / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A devastating series of tornadoes that swept through the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern US has claimed the lives of at least 26 people and injured dozens more, with hundreds of thousands hit by power outages, according to local officials.
An estimated 60 tornadoes wreaked havoc across at least eight US states on Friday and over the weekend, destroying houses, felling trees, and flipping cars. Tennessee appeared to have been hit the hardest, with officials in McNairy County alone reporting nine deaths.
The local sheriff said that all the deceased were in the buildings destroyed by the disaster. In the same state, tornadoes killed one person in Tipton County, with 28 injured.
At least five people died in Arkansas, four in Illinois, and three in Indiana, according to officials. Authorities in Mississippi, Delaware, Ohio and Alabama reported one death per state.
In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency while activating the National Guard to help with tornado response and asking for federal assistance.
In Belvidere, northern Illinois, a tornado led to the collapse of a roof at the Apollo Theatre, where spectators had gathered to listen to the metal band Morbid Angel, killing one and injuring 40 others.
The disaster also caused severe power outages, which on Saturday amounted to over one million customers, according to poweroutage.us. The bad weather also spilled over to other states, leaving more than 100,000 customers in Pennsylvania and tens of thousands in Ohio and West Virginia without electricity.
