UPDATE - Tornadoes Leave At Least 18 Dead, Dozens Injured In US South, Midwest - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2023) Tornadoes and severe winds that swept across parts of the US South and Midwest on Friday night left at least 18 people dead and dozens injured, US media reported.

Destruction and casualties were reported in multiple states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois and Wisconsin, the USA Today news outlet reported. The National Weather Service said that over 28 million people were under a tornado watch on Friday.

Of the 11 people who have died, five were reported in Arkansas, with three deaths in Indiana, one in Illinois, one in Alabama and one in Mississippi, the news outlet said. Later in the day, seven more people were reported dead in southern Tennessee's McNairy County, bringing the total death toll to 18, the USA Today reported.

As of Saturday morning, over 200,000 households were without power in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and several other states, according to the PowerOutage.us web portal. On Saturday afternoon, the number of power outages hiked to over 900,000 customers, as poor weather moved toward the US Northeast.

Earlier in the day, media reported that a tornado hit Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas and the state's most populated city, severely damaging and destroying many houses. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard, pledging to spare no effort to restore the state.