LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A monster storm system has torn through the South and Midwest, spawning deadly weather including tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois and made a fatal sweep into rural Indiana. At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area during Friday’s storm. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas also was devastated and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris. Authorities say a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing one person and injuring 28. The emergency management director of Sullivan County, Indiana, says the storm has caused three fatalities there. In Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state as of Friday night. More outages were reported in Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center had forecast an unusually large outbreak of thunderstorms with the potential to cause hail, damaging wind gusts and strong tornadoes that could move for long distances over the ground. Such “intense supercell thunderstorms ” are only expected to become more common, especially in Southern states, as temperatures rise around the world. The weather service is forecasting another batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week.
