What happened?
A tornado outbreak tore through several states on Friday night. At least six were struck, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
The tornadoes were part of a weather system that was wreaking havoc in many parts of the country, causing substantial snowfall across parts of the upper Midwest and western Great Lakes.
Dozens of people were killed.
Kentucky’s governor said on Saturday morning that at least 70 people had been killed in a tornado’s path of over 200 miles, and that the state’s death toll could increase to more than 100.
A tornado caused the walls and roof of an Amazon warehouse in Illinois to collapse, leaving workers trapped inside. At least six people died, and recovery efforts were ongoing.
Four people died in Tennessee. In Arkansas, at least one person was killed at a nursing home in Monette, and another at a Dollar General store in nearby Leachville.
Across the affected states, the total number of people killed and injured was not yet known, and search-and-rescue operations were continuing in several places on Saturday.
What’s the damage like?
Officials across the six-state area were still assessing the extent of the damage on Saturday. Local news reports and videos on social media showed crumbled buildings and downed trees across the storm’s path.
As of Saturday night, there were about 77,000 customers without power in Kentucky and 53,000 in Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storms also caused a freight train to derail, although no injuries were reported.
Discussion about this post