The destructive weather comes as President Joe Biden tours the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck Mississippi a week ago.
Rescuers in the US state of Arkansas combed through rubble for more possible victims after a ferocious tornado tore through the country, killing at least three people and injuring dozens.
The tornado sliced through the roofs and walls of many buildings, flipped over vehicles and downed trees and power lines on Saturday.
A flurry of extreme spring weather swept across much of the United States on Friday, threatening the central part of the nation from Texas to the Great Lakes with thunderstorms and tornadoes.
The storm caused three deaths in Sullivan County, Indiana, Emergency Management Director Jim Pirtle said.
In northern Illinois, one person was killed and 28 injured when the storm ripped the roof off a theater during a heavy metal concert.
Two deaths in Arkansas occurred in Wynne, about 100 miles (160 km) east of Little Rock, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
Although more than 30 people were taken to the hospital in the Little Rock area, none died as of Friday night, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr said, adding that the count remained inaccurate.
“It is truly by the grace of God that we have not experienced any fatalities to date,” Scott said at a news conference.
One of several areas hit was a section of west Little Rock that is home to 2,100 people, Deputy Police Chief Andre Dyer said.
Two states away, in Belvidere, Illinois, a river town near the Wisconsin border, one person died and 28 others were taken by ambulance to area hospitals, five with serious injuries, Fire Chief Shawn told reporters. Schadle.
Schadle said some 260 people attended the concert at the city’s Apollo Theatre, which featured headlining act Morbid Angel as part of the group’s Horror Tour.
Concert attendee Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO television that people took refuge in the basement when the roof collapsed.
Some people scrambled to pick up the collapsed part of the roof and pull people out of the rubble, said Lewellyn, who was not injured.
“They pulled someone out of the rubble. And I sat down with him and held his hand and told him that everything was going to be okay. I really didn’t know much else what to do,” Lewellyn said.
The turbulent weather came when President Joe Biden toured the remains from a major storm that hit the state of Mississippi last week.
The swarm of thunderstorms unleashed a deadly tornado that devastated the Mississippi town of Rolling Fork, destroying many of the 400 homes and murder 25 people One person died in neighboring Alabama.
bident promised to rebuild in Mississippi as forecasters warned millions of people to prepare for massive storms looming across at least 15 states in the Midwestern and southern US, with more than 85 million people under weather advisories Friday.
