Topline
Hospitals across the Little Rock, Arkansas, area are reportedly dealing with a surge of injured patients after what appeared to be a powerful tornado tore through central Arkansas on Friday afternoon, leaving extensive damage in the latest devastating storm to strike the South.
A homs is damaged and trees are down after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Arkansas on Friday. … [+]
Key Facts
Casualty numbers remain unclear but officials are estimating at least 600 people were injured in storms Friday afternoon, according to KTHV-TV, capped by a tornado that passed directly over the Little Rock metropolitan area around 2:30 p.m. Central time.
Photos and videos posted to social media showed catastrophic damage in Little Rock neighborhoods, with some homes effectively leveled.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) tweeted she has activated the Arkansas National Guard to assist with the response.
More than 90,000 power outages have been reported across Arkansas, including more than 50,000 in Pulaski County—home of Little Rock, the state’s capital.
What To Watch For
The severe weather outbreak is ongoing in Arkansas and extends across a large swath of the South and Midwest as a cold front pushes eastward. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center issued a rare outlook for “high” severe weather risk Friday in two regions—one including eastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi and southwestern Tennessee, and another centered around southeast Iowa, west-central Illinois and northeastern Missouri. This is the first time a “high” risk severe weather alert has been issued in more than two years.
Key Background
The severe weather comes less than a week after a series of tornadoes devastated parts of Mississippi, killing more than 20 people. The small town of Rolling Fork took one of the hardest hits, with around 300 homes and businesses being destroyed. President Joe Biden toured the town Friday, vowing to provide federal support to rebuild the community. “I know there’s a lot of pain and it’s hard to believe in a moment like this: This community is going to be rebuilt, and rebuilt and built back better than it was before,” Biden said in Rolling Fork on Friday.
Further Reading
Photos Of Devastation: Tornadoes Kill 23 While Flattening Parts Of Mississippi (Forbes)
Little Rock, other parts of Arkansas hit by ‘catastrophic’ storm (KTHV-TV)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/03/31/large-tornado-hits-little-rock-major-damage-reported/