At least 24 tornadoes were reported across five states, with officials in Arkansas saying that two people have died. The potential for more severe weather continues
At least one person was killed in Monette in northeastern Arkansas after a tornado damaged a nursing home Friday, trapping others inside before being rescued. At least 20 were also injured at the facility, Mayor Bob Blankenship told CNN.
Another person was killed in nearby Leachville, when an adult female was “in a Dollar General store when the storm hit and they could not get out,” Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook told CNN.
Interstate 555 near the town of Trumann was closed due to overturned vehicles, according to Arkansas Emergency Management spokesperson LaTresha Woodruff. State officials had been told there was damage to the town’s fire department, EMS facility and a nursing home, Woodruff said.
In the community of Samburg in northwest Tennessee, multiple structured were damaged, according to officials. The town “is pretty well flattened,” Obion County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher Judy Faulkner told CNN.
“It’s devastating to see the amount of damage there and to know there were people inside when that happened,” Edwardsville Police Chief Michael Fillback told KMOV on Saturday morning. Police did not know how many people were in the building at the time of the collapse, Fillback said, nor how many people may still be trapped inside.
A train derailed near Madisonville, Kentucky, early Saturday morning as weather moved through the area, according to a CSX spokeswoman. There are no reported injuries to the crew.
One tornado’s path — extending from Arkansas to Kentucky — if verified, is potentially the longest traveled of any since 1925.
Along with multiple tornadoes, the storms produced dozens of wind and hail reports as of early Saturday.
Setting off weather alerts Friday from Arkansas to Indiana, the severity of the storms is anticipated to diminish as the day continues, with the greatest threat during the early morning hours.
Much of the eastern US will be impacted by rain into Saturday evening. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms may occur from the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys into the northern Gulf States, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Wind gusts, hail and an isolated tornado remain possible.
CNN’s Joe Sutton, Andy Rose, Dave Alsup, Raja Razek and Amy Simonson contributed to this report.
