A fierce tornado blasted through Little Rock, Arkansas, and neighboring towns on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens of others as it sheared roofs and walls from many buildings, flipped over vehicles and downed trees and power lines, officials said, Trend reports citing Reuters.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital, the region's only major trauma center, declared a level-1 mass casualty alert after the tornado struck Little Rock, the state's capital and most populous city, at mid-afternoon.
The twister was spawned by one of numerous violent thunderstorms raking a vast swath of the U.S. heartland as part of a much larger expanse of extreme spring weather.
Speaking at a late night news conference, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the tornado claimed at least two lives in Wynne, Arkansas, about 100 miles (160 km) east of Little Rock near the Tennessee border.