Live Updates: Tornadoes Leave Severe Damage in Midwest, South; 1 Killed in Arkansas

As severe storms and tornadoes swept through the Midwest on Friday night, buildings including a nursing home were badly damaged.

One such tornado tracked through parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky – leaving extreme damage in all four states as it carved out a path of destruction more than 100 miles long.

Arkansas: 1 Killed

The Weather Channel confirmed that one person died in a Dollar General in Leachville Arkansas after a tornado ravaged the town in the northeastern part of the state. Images after the storm showed the store being destroyed and cars parked in the lot.

Kentucky City Gets Direct Hit from Large Tornado

Located in western Kentucky, the city of Mayfield – population 10,000 – was struck by a large, violent tornado Friday night. The immediate aftermath of the tornado left little information, but storm chasers reported difficulties even getting into the city because of the extensive, extreme damage.

Images shared on social media showed severe damage to the downtown courthouse.

Amazon Warehouse, Southern Illinois: Workers entrapped

According to KPLR TV in Edwardsville, Illinois multiple workers were trapped when an Amazon warehouse was hit by a storm Friday night. It wasn’t immediately clear how many workers were trapped within the damaged building.

Edwardsville lies approximately 20 miles northeastern of St. Louis.

Arkansas: Buildings destroyed

“We do have significant damage within several cities in the county,” an emergency manager for Craighead County, Arkansas, said in a telephone call at 9 p.m. CST.

Monette residents were evacuated from their nursing home. Some had suffered injuries. Operators said that they were being taken either to the hospital, or to an alternative shelter.

According to the Associated Press, rescue operations were completed approximately 90 minutes after the tornado hit the nursing home at 8:15 p.m. According to the report, Monette Manor has approximately 90 beds.

(FORECAST:Winter Storm Atticus)

Storms Cause Damage to Tennessee, Missouri

In the northwest corner of Tennessee, there were also reports of injuries at Samburg, Tennessee. A dispatcher for the sheriff’s department answered the phone around 9:30 p.m. to say they were too busy talking.

Defiance, Missouri is about 32 miles west St. Louis, in St. Charles County. There were reports of several homes being damaged or collapsed.

According to poweroutage.us more than 100,000 power failures were reported in Arkansas and Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois as of 10:30 PM CST.

Winter Storms can have a severe side effect

The Weather Channel named the storm Atticus. As it moves east, it brings severe weather, high winds, and snow.

It delivered the first snow of the season to Salt Lake City, Denver, and other areas. Some spots in the mountains of Colorado and southern Wyoming received snowfalls up to 3 feet.

The state patrol in Minnesota responded to more than 136 crashesMinneapolis-St. Paul Airport cancelled more than 200 flights Friday at 4:45 p.m.

Parts of the Deep South, including Tennessee and Ohio valleys could see more rain on Saturday due to the storm’s warmer side.

It is not uncommon for severe weather to accompany winter storms.

Jonathan Belles, meteorologist, stated that winter storms often produce severe thunderstorms. They pull moist, warm, and buoyant air northwards over the Gulf of Mexico. “These storms feed on the jetstream that fuels them, growing taller than normal and becoming more tilted. The storms eventually become pushed to spin when winds change from the ground to jet stream level.

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