At Least 21 Dead In U.S. Tornado Outbreak; More Storms To Come

ACROSS AMERICA — At least 21 people were killed and numerous more injured Friday when tornadoes tore through parts of the U.S. South and Midwest, damaging homes and businesses and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

Emergency responders surveyed the damage Saturday morning after severe storms battered the region into the night, part of a sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest.

Tornadoes were reported in multiple states including Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois, and Wisconsin, according to an ABC News report.

Preliminary information showed at least 22 tornadoes were reported in Illinois, eight in Iowa, four in Tennessee, five in Wisconsin and two in Mississippi, CNN reported. In Arkansas, at least a dozen tornadoes were reported.

At one point Friday night, more than 28 million people in the United States were under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service.

The dead included seven in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, four in Illinois, and three in nearby Sullivan, Indiana.

Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where the mayor said more than 2,000 buildings were in a tornado's path.

Friday's storms also left people in more than 10 states without power. As of Saturday morning, more than 69,000 customers in Indiana were without power, followed by more than 65,000 in Minnesota and more than 52,000 in Arkansas, according to poweroutage.us.

Little Rock, Arkansas, was among the hardest hit by Friday night's storms. At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said.

The tornado in Little Rock tore first through neighborhoods in the western part of the Arkansas capital and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger grocery store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses and vehicles.

Little Rock resident Niki Scott took cover in the bathroom after her husband called to warn her of a tornado. She could hear glass shattering and emerged to find that her house was one of the few on her street that didn’t have a tree on it.

“It’s just like everyone says. It got really quiet, then it got really loud,” Scott said afterward, as chainsaws roared and sirens blared.

A tornado also killed a woman and critically injured three other people in Madison County, Alabama, emergency services worker Don Webster told WAFF-TV.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to assist state and local law enforcement.

"Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through," Sanders tweeted.

In Illinois, one person was killed and dozens more injured when the roof of the Apollo Theater in Belvidere collapsed during a concert. A video shared on social media from inside the Apollo Theater shows several people trying to remove debris from the collapsed roof so they could get to those trapped underneath.

• RELATED: 1 Killed, 28 Injured When Theater Roof Collapses: Report

Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue. Responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to deal with downed power lines outside the theater.

At least three people were reported dead and several homes were destroyed in Sullivan, Indiana, according to WISH-TV. Numerous power lines were down in the area and multiple gas leaks were reported, officials told the station.

Tornadoes also caused sporadic damage in eastern Iowa. One veered just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. Video showed toppled power poles and roofs ripped off an apartment building in the suburb of Coralville and significantly damaged homes in the city of Hills.

As storm-battered cities continue to assess damage, the threat of more severe weather loomed into Saturday, according to forecasters.

On Saturday morning, about 70 million people in parts of the Ohio Valley, the Northeast — which included New York City and Philadelphia — and parts of the Southeast were under a slight risk of severe weather, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Strong storms are expected across the Southeast on Saturday afternoon, according to a CNN forecast, while severe weather could bring damaging winds to the Northeast through the evening, affecting cities including Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.