Tornadoes that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 26 people in small towns and large cities in the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the capital of Arkansas; the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois collapsed and stunned people across the region on Saturday with the extent of the damage.
Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, snapped trees, and ruined neighbourhoods across a wide swath of the country. The dead included at least nine in one Tennessee County, four in the small town of Wynn, Arkansas, three in Sullivan, Indiana, and four in Illinois.
Other deaths from the storms Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, including one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where city officials said more than 2,600 buildings were in the tornado’s path.
Residents of Wayne, a community of about 8,000 people about 50 miles (80 kilometres) west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke up on Saturday to find the roof of the high school torn off and its windows blown out. Big trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to cubs. Broken walls, windows, and roofs are affecting homes and businesses.
Debris lay strewn across the porches and lawns of homes: clothing, insulation, toys, scattered furniture, and a pickup truck with its windows smashed out. Ashley McMillan said she, her husband, and their children were huddled in a small bathroom with their dogs when the tornado passed, “praying and saying goodbye to each other, because we thought we were dead.” Their house was badly damaged by a falling tree, but they escaped unhurt. “We could feel the house shaking, we could hear loud noises, like dishes rattling. And then it just got calm,” she said. Recovery was already underway, with workers using chainsaws and bulldozers to clear the area and utility crews restoring power.
Nine people died in Tennessee’s McNairy County, east of Memphis, according to Patrick Sheehan, director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. “The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas,” said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.
Gov. Bill Lee drove to the county on Saturday to tour the destruction and comfort residents. He said the storm capped the “worst” week of his time as governor, coming days after a school shooting in Nashville that killed six people, including a family friend whose funeral he and his wife, Maria, attended earlier in the day. “It’s terrible what has happened in this community, this county, and this state,” Lee said. “But it looks like your community has done what Tennessee communities do, which is rally and respond.”
