At least 21 people died in seven states due to strong tornadoes in the United States International

At least 21 people have been killed as severe tornadoes swept across seven states in Central and South America this weekend, local officials said. The storms left hundreds of thousands of people without power, caused extensive property damage to homes and businesses, and in Illinois, the roof collapsed on a packed theater hosting a heavy metal concert.

The most recent deaths have been confirmed in the state of Tennessee, where at least seven people have died in McNairy County. Other victims lost their lives in Wayne, Arkansas; Sullivan, Indiana; and in the states of Alabama, Illinois, and Mississippi. In the Arkansas capital of Little Rock, more than 2,000 buildings were damaged by a tornado Friday that killed at least one person, according to the city council. Dozens of people have been injured by this wind path.

“The impact was devastating” in Little Rock, its mayor, Frank Scott, told the television network CNN. “Within minutes (the tornado) went across the west side of the city … it just came out of nowhere.”

More than 30,000 people in the city were still without power after noon. In hard-hit states, that number rises to about 400,000.

About 260 people were inside the Apollo Theater in Belvidere, Illinois, when the wind tore the roof off the building. At least one person died and forty others were injured, two of them seriously.

The effects of the storm in the central and southern US came within hours of President Joe Biden’s visit to Rolling Fork, Mississippi, which was hit by a tornado last week. Boss. A total of 26 people have died in the state.

Biden spoke by phone this Saturday with Dean Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who coordinates the government’s response to natural disasters, the White House said in a statement. The US president also spoke with Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Scott and Winn Mayor Jennifer Hobbs. That last town was one of the worst hit by the tornado in Arkansas.

Follow all international information Facebook And Twitteror inside Our weekly newsletter.