THE death toll from a major storm system that has lashed the south-central and eastern US with devastating winds and powerful tornadoes has risen to 18, with dozens of others injured, officials said Saturday.
A spokesperson for the emergency management agency in Tennessee, one of the states hardest hit by storms which have struck since Friday, confirmed seven weather-related fatalities to AFP.
That came on top of 11 deaths reported earlier in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama in the south, and Indiana and Illinois in the Midwest. The storm system on Saturday was bearing down on the US east coast, with thunderstorms, hail and powerful winds predicted through late Sunday.
On Friday, the storm had sent multiple tornadoes — some of exceptional size and power — sweeping through Arkansas, including in the capital Little Rock, where they killed at least five people, the state’s governor said.
Daylight revealed extensive damage, with several homes torn apart, cars overturned, power lines toppled and trees ripped out of the ground.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has declared a state of emergency and activated the national guard to help with recovery efforts.
She said she had spoken to President Joe Biden, who had promised to expedite federal aid.
The city of Wynne, in northeastern Arkansas, was “cut in half by damage from east to west,” Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told CNN.
The National Weather Service had also issued tornado warnings for several other states, from as far north as Iowa to the southern state of Mississippi, where a twister last week killed 25 people and caused extensive property damage.
