On Friday afternoon, a "catastrophic" tornado passed over Little Rock, Arkansas.
After terrible storms and tornadoes tore through the South and Midwest Friday into early Saturday, four people died in structural collapses in Illinois on Friday, raising the overall death toll to 21.
As the possibility of more severe weather loomed into Saturday afternoon, seven weather-related deaths were also previously verified in McNairy County, Tennessee.
In at least seven states, including Arkansas, where storms killed five people, four in the small city of Wynne and one in North Little Rock, more than 50 preliminary tornado reports were made on Friday.
In Harper, Iowa, a tornado sweeps debris over the road in front of storm chasers.
According to State Police Sgt. Matt Ames, three individuals were murdered in Indiana on Friday night by a storm that destroyed homes and a volunteer fire station close to the city of Sullivan, which is 95 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
In Madison County, Alabama, one person died and five were injured overnight, officials said during a news conference Saturday morning.
In Pontotoc County, Mississippi, one person died and four others were injured, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Allen Strickland, McNairy County director of emergency management, confirmed the seven deaths in the county, which is located in southern Tennessee between Nashville and Memphis, on Saturday afternoon.
At least 50 people were sent to hospitals in Arkansas' Pulaski County, where a tornado roared through the Little Rock area Friday, county spokesperson Madeline Roberts said. Five others were hospitalized after a tornado touched down Friday in Covington, Tennessee, according to a spokesperson for Baptist Memorial Health Care. Roads were left impassable.
According to Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott, the "effect is terrible." It "literally went through the entire western part of the city of Little Rock in a matter of minutes... It just came out of nowhere."
He said that 2,100 people lived in the tornado's path and were ultimately impacted. Commercial establishments and residential areas were destroyed.
More than 35,000 people in the state were still without power Saturday afternoon, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us.
Preliminary information shows at least 22 tornadoes were reported in Illinois, eight in Iowa, four in Tennessee, five in Wisconsin and a couple in Mississippi.
In Arkansas, at least a dozen tornadoes were reported, including in the Little Rock area. Twisters in Arkansas left homes nearly levelled, and roads were covered with what once was the roofs and walls of buildings.
Frank Scott, the mayor of Little Rock, said on Saturday that the "effect is terrible." It "went through the entire western section of Little Rock in a couple of minutes literally... It simply came out of nowhere."
According to him, the tornado's course ultimately affected 2,100 people. Communities and commercial establishments were destroyed.
"We are still in triage mode," Hobbs said, adding that crews were trying to determine the severity of the damage and any potential injuries.
Some houses in Wynne -- home to about 8,000 residents -- were completely crushed into piles of wood while others had their roofs ripped off, exposing the interiors of homes littered with storm debris, drone footage provided to CNN by Ray Sharp show. Many trees toppled, making what appears to be residential roads impassable and damaging structures.
At least 26 people were killed by severe weather that struck the Southeast a week prior on Friday. Much of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, was completely destroyed overnight by a tornado, which makes individuals more vulnerable to severe harm. There, estimated maximum winds of 170 mph roared.
Storm-related roof collapse at a theatre
More than 200 people were attending an event at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere, northern Illinois, when its roof collapsed on Friday night, leaving one person unharmed. dozens of people hurt, according to the city's fire chief. According to authorities and the National Weather Service, the collapse occurred as a line of storms packing 50 mph winds and dumping hail passed across the region. It was unclear right away if the storm was what caused the theatre’s roof to collapse.
Shawn Schadle, the fire chief for Belvidere, Illinois, reported that 28 individuals were brought to hospitals as a result of the fall.
While this was going on, in Indiana, the storm tore through Sullivan County, keeping the wife of a local official inside their residence until their son came to save her.
Jim Pirtle, the county's emergency management director, told CNN that many homes, including his own, were damaged on Friday night.
"About 45 minutes before it happened, I called (my wife). Robin, you need to go somewhere, I said to her. Pirtle stated, "We don't have a basement. "I was talking to her on the phone when she started sobbing, 'Jim, I love you,' and it tore the home apart.
Pirtle said over the phone from Florida, "We got stuck bad," adding that he was coordinating with emergency personnel remotely.
He continued, "I'm not sure about deaths yet. "There are still persons missing,"
According to Mayor Clint Lamb, numerous homes in the city of Sullivan, which has around 4,000 residents, suffered major damage as a result of the storm.
Overnight, Lamb posted on Facebook, "We ask all citizens to keep safe and stay put." "Clear streets are necessary so that first responders may attend to the affected areas. Please offer your prayers for the Sullivan families and the first responders."
Storm damage has been severe in Howard, Johnson, and Sullivan counties, according to meteorologist Andrew White with the National Weather Service's Indianapolis Office.
Emergency management director Janice Hart claims that the damage in Howard County was minimal and that no casualties were reported.
Eric Holcomb, the governor of Indiana, issued a disaster emergency declaration for the counties of Sullivan and Johnson on Saturday and stated that Indiana officials were collaborating with FEMA to assess damages.
Last weekend, storms near Rolling Fork, Mississippi, brought Bidens there.
An area with fatal storms the previous weekend was among those at risk for tornadoes. On Friday, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden travelled to one of those places, Rolling Fork, Mississippi.
Standing amidst the devastation, Biden said during remarks in the town on Friday, "Jill and I are here to show our support." "I know there is a lot of suffering, and it's hard to think this town will be rebuilt and rebuilt back better than it was before," the speaker said.
In the storms, about two dozen individuals perished.
According to the Storm Prediction Center, there is a slight danger of severe weather for nearly 70 million people in areas of the Ohio Valley, the Northeast, including New York City and Philadelphia, and parts of the Southeast on Saturday AM (Level 2 of 5).
Storms across the Southeast are expected to remain strong to severe through Saturday afternoon, but these storms should push offshore by the evening.
A round of severe storms including damaging winds is expected to ramp up across portions of the Northeast in the afternoon through the evening. These storms could affect some of the big Northeast cities, including Philadelphia, New York, and Boston in the evening.
On Friday, large hail proved to be dangerous when it bombarded northern Illinois, cracking and denting cars' windshields, according to a Facebook post from the Fulton County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency.
About 78 miles southeast of there, several businesses were "basically destroyed," Sheriff Jack Campbell told CNN, and up to 40 homes were damaged around Sherman, less than 10 miles north of Springfield.
The interior of the store after a tornado hit Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 31, 2023. On March 31, 2023, a tornado tore through Little Rock, Arkansas, damaging a home and uprooting trees. According to the tracking website PowerOutage.us, more than 450,000 homes and businesses were without power early on Saturday throughout Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, and Tennessee, with nearly one-third of the outages reported in Indiana.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas announced a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard, saying the state would "spare no resource" in reacting to and recovering from the storm.