Arkansas, United States.- At least 21 people died due to the dozens of tornadoes in small towns and large cities of the South and the Midwest of the United States caused by a powerful storm system.
The tornadoes also collapsed the roof of a concert hall in Illinois, leaving more than 700,000 customers without power.
Seven of the deaths were reported in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, four in Illinois and three in nearby Sullivan, Indiana. Other deaths were reported from the storms that raged late Friday into Saturday in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas.
The 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.
In Illinois, the severe storms also left behind and various damages. On Friday night and early Saturday, the disaster reached the city of Belvidere, when a powerful tornado caused the roof and part of the facade of the Apollo Theater to collapse, in the middle of a concert by a heavy metal band.
Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle confirmed one person dead and 28 injured in the disaster, five with serious injuries.
The National Weather Service issued a severe storm watch for Saturday afternoon for parts of central New York state and central and eastern Pennsylvania with wind gusts of up to 105 kilometers per hour.
