SEE IT: Tornado wreaks havoc in Little Rock, Arkansas

On Friday afternoon, a tornado swept through a suburb of Little Rock, Arkansas, causing extensive damage and injuring around 600 people. The National Weather Service had issued an emergency for parts of the metro area of Little Rock, warning that a “damaging tornado” was on the way.

The Little Rock Fire Department reported heavy damage and debris in the western part of the city, and firefighters were carrying out rescue operations. However, as of now, no fatalities have been reported. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center is operating as a Level III mass casualty center and is expecting a minimum of 15 to 20 patients from the tornado.

Poweroutage.us reported that almost 70,000 people in Arkansas were without power, and about 350,000 people were in the tornado’s possible path. In addition, Oklahoma, which borders the state, had 32,000 people without power.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) signed an executive order to allocate $250,000 from the governor’s disaster response fund to be used in the aftermath of the tornado.

More than 85 million people were affected as a total of 15 states in the Midwest and South were under weather alerts. These storms, which included hail and strong wind gusts, did not all produce tornadoes.

On Friday, President Joe Biden surveyed the damage caused by a different storm in Mississippi and approved a disaster declaration for the state after the severe weather left at least 26 dead. It is unknown whether the president will visit Arkansas.

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