“Right now, we have five confirmed fatalities. We have a couple others that have been reported, but we don’t have confirmation from local law enforcement on the ground. We’re waiting. But right now, across the state, we have five confirmed fatalities,” he said.
Four of the Arkansas fatalities were in Wynne, about 100 miles east of Little Rock, Cross County Coroner Eli Long said.
One person died and more than 50 were hospitalized in North Little Rock, he told the Washington Post Madeline Roberts, Pulaski County spokeswoman.
US President Joe Biden spoke with Huckabee Sanders and the mayors of Little Rock and Wynne, the White House said in a statement. He also spoke with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell.
Huckabee Sanders said that Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in phone calls Saturday, offered the support of the federal government.
“Whatever Arkansas needs, they have assured us that those resources will be here and on the ground,” he told a news conference.
In Sullivan County, Indiana, three people were killed, Indiana State Police Sgt. Matt Ames said. A state of emergency has been declared in the affected areas, Sheriff Jason Bobbitt said on Facebook.
Fox News, citing Fox Weatherreported that a tornado killed one person in Madison County, Alabama, and another person was killed during a storm in Pontotoc County, Mississippi.
The situations came a week after a swarm of thunderstorms unleashed a deadly tornado that devastated the town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, destroying many of the community’s 400 homes and killing 26 people.
