A storm sweeps America and causes at least 22 deaths
A violent storm with strong winds and torrential rain swept across the southern and midwestern parts of the United States on its way eastward on Saturday, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens, officials and media reports said.
Officials said at least five people were killed in Arkansas, and emergency teams were combing through the rubble for more victims after tornadoes hit the state on Friday.
Officials also reported four deaths in Illinois and three in Indiana.
Meanwhile, the Tennessee Department of Health confirmed seven weather-related deaths in McNairy County on the Mississippi border. Patrick Sheehan, director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Authority, said the number of injured and buildings damaged in several counties had yet to be determined.
Just south of the Tennessee border in Madison County, Alabama, 90-year-old Ovie Lasater died when her home was destroyed by a tornado, Detective Tyler Berryhill told Reuters.
Fox News reported another death in Pontotoc County, in neighboring Mississippi.
Illinois Emergency Management said three people died in Crawford County after an apartment building collapsed.
This came in addition to a 50-year-old man who died in Belvedere, northern Illinois, after the roof of a theater that had 260 people inside collapsed.
Dan Zackard, a senior Boone County emergency management official, said Saturday that the accident left 40 people injured.
