The death toll from tornadoes and storms in the United States rises to 26

The fort storms and tornadoes which affected the Southern and Midwestern United States brought the death toll to 26, according to the latest balance sheets from local authorities released this Sunday. As of Saturday the toll was 18 dead.

The state of Tennessee, one of the hardest hit by the onset of severe weather Friday, recorded an increase from seven to nine in crash deaths related to these intense storms and tornadoes in McNairy County, east of Memphis, according to city news channel WREG.

Scenes of devastation were left in the tornado’s path through Tennessee, where it twisted trees and flattened homes.

“I could hear the whole house shakessaid Janice Pieterick, who watched glass doors and windows explode as the tornado tore through Lewis County.

the dead ones add to the 15 people who died in the southern states of Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, and in Indiana and Illinois in the Midwestern United States.

Multiple tornadoes have spawned, some of exceptional size and power, including across parts of Arkansas. At least five people died there, according to the governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had declared a general state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard.

The capital Little Rock was hit hard. Its residents woke up on Saturday to a bleak picture of overturned cars, huge trees uprooted from the ground, broken telephone lines and destroyed homes.

“We know many people have been displaced and are seeking shelter,” said Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr.

In turn, the city of Wynne in the northeast of the state is “cut in two by damage from east to west”complained its mayor, Jennifer Hobbs, to CNN.

In nearby (south) Mississippi, where a tornado last week left 25 dead, Emergency Management Services also reported one death and several injuries in Pontotoc County, south of Memphis.

Alabama, meanwhile, has recorded the death of an elderly person when a tornado destroyed his home, authorities in Huntsville said.

Severe storms also caused deaths and serious damage in the state of Illinois (Eastern-Central USA).

In the early hours of Saturday, the city of Belvidere was shaken by a powerful tornado that collapsed the roof and part of the facade of the Apollo Theater, in the middle of a concert by a heavy metal band. Fire Chief Shawn Schadle confirmed one dead and 28 injured, five with serious injuries.

Television images also showed the evacuation of injured spectators on stretchers, while photos posted on social media revealed the extent of the damage at the site.

For its part, in Crawford County, three people died from a home collapse, according to Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokesman Kevin Sur.

For their part, authorities in the neighboring state of Indiana confirmed the deaths of three people after a storm hit Sullivan County. And in Delaware, one person died from the collapse of “a structure” in Sussex County, according to authorities.

In the passage through the north-east of the country, hardest hit were Ohio and Pennsylvaniawhen the storms head north.

“Maximum wind gusts could approach 60 miles (100 kilometers) per hour across large parts of the Appalachian Mountains, the Upper Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic today,” the National Weather System (NWS) warned Sunday. There was also a tornado and a severe thunderstorm in upstate New York.

In addition, more than 650,000 homes were left without power on Saturday in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the Poweroutage.us website.

Tornadoes, a meteorological phenomenon as massive as it is difficult to predict, are common in the United States, especially in the center and south.

With information from AFP.