Over Two Dozen Killed as Tornadoes Tear Through Midwest and South

Over 50 tornadoes ripped through several states in the South and Midwest, claiming the lives of at least 26 people.

Governor Bill Lee (R., Tenn.), noting the close proximity of the latest tragedy to the mass shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday, called this the “worst” week of his tenure.

“It’s terrible what has happened in this community, this county, this state,” Lee said. “But it looks like your community has done what Tennessean communities do, and that is rally and respond.”

Four people were killed in neighboring Wynne, Ark., a small community of less than 10,000 residents 50 miles west of Memphis. One local resident, Ashley Macmillan, described huddling around her husband, children, and dogs in a bathroom “praying and saying goodbye to each other, because we thought we were dead.”

“We could feel the house shaking, we could hear loud noises, dishes rattling. And then it just got calm,” Macmillan told the Associated Press.

Mayor Jennifer Hobbs said that the town was “basically cut in half by damage from east to west,” in an interview with CNN.

Governors in Indiana and Illinois have declared states of emergency to help with rescue and relief efforts.

“I have signed an executive order declaring a disaster emergency for Sullivan and Johnson counties because of severe weather that moved through the state overnight Friday into Saturday,” Eric Holcomb, the Republican governor of Indiana, tweeted on Saturday afternoon.

Governor J.B. Pritzker (D., Ill.) issued a similar statement expediting support to five counties hard hit by the devastation.

The National Weather Service has detected over 80 tornadoes since March 31.