Live updates: Tornadoes touch down in Arkansas
A rare “high risk” Level 5 out of 5 alert has been issued Friday for parts of the Midwest and Mid-South, impacting nearly 3 million people, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.
High-risk areas include two main regions:
- Portions of southeastern Iowa, northwestern Illinois and northeastern Missouri, including places like Davenport and Iowa City in Iowa.
- Portions of eastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi and southwestern Tennessee, including Memphis.
Additionally, severe storms are expected to sweep across some central and southern states beginning Friday afternoon, bringing the threat of several strong tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds to nearly 90 million people across 21 states.
Tornado watches have been issued for 15 million people, stretching from southern Arkansas to northern Iowa until 8 p.m CT (9 p.m. ET) and parts of northeast Texas, northwest Louisiana and far southern Oklahoma until 9 p.m. CT (10 p.m ET). Shreveport, Louisiana, and Tyler, Texas, are included in the tornado watch.
These tornado watches have been labeled a “particularly dangerous situation” by the Storm Prediction Center.
The prediction center warns of a couple of tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts of up to 70 mph.
