Tornado hammers parts of US, 26 dead

At least 26 people have died after a series of storms tore through villages and municipalities in the South and Midwest of the US.

Houses were destroyed, and thousands were left without electricity after tornadoes destroyed some states.

Storms continue to pound cities and towns in the US: 

According to the Washington Post, nearly 60 storm reports were recorded. States, including Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, have all undergone fatalities due to the climate.

One hurricane sliced through the Arkansas town of Wynne – a precinct some 100 miles (170km) east of the state capital, Little Rock.

Ashley Macmillan stated she, her spouse and their kids huddled with their dogs in a small restroom as a tornado went through, “praying and saying bye to each other because we thought we were finished”.

A falling tree immensely damaged their house, but they were not injured. She told the AP press agency: “We could feel the home trembling; we could hear clangorous noises, dishes clattering. And then it just got serene.”

Lisa Worden, a professor at Wynne High School, said a decision to send students home early was necessary.

“We went out at 1:30, which was a blessing from our superintendent because otherwise, children would have been on vehicles, and teachers would have still been here. And that would have been even more disastrous,” she told the press news agency.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a state of emergency in the form of Arkansas on Friday, with the national guard started to help with recovery measures.

She said she had been in talks with President Joe Biden regarding the situation, who vowed federal assistance. Friday’s cyclones also led to the ruin of a theatre roof at a sealed heavy metal gig in Belvidere, Illinois state, leading to one death and 28 injuries.

As tornadoes continue to go east, hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity across some states.