Investigators look over the Apollo Theatre following a tornado in Belvidere, Ill., on Saturday. The death toll from a string of tornadoes over the weekend reached 32. Photo by Matt Marton/EPA-EFE
April 3 (UPI) -- Residents across seven states continued to recover over the weekend from a line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, where the death toll increased to at least 32 people across the South, Midwest and Northeast.
Deaths from the fierce tornados produced by the storms were recorded in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Fifteen of those deaths were reported in Tennessee and another five in Arkansas. On Saturday, four tornadoes were reported in New Jersey, but they did not result in any deaths.
"Thank you to the local officials, first responders and volunteers who continue to serve their fellow Tennesseans following the loss of life and significant storm damage," Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter Saturday. "Tennessee is resilient, and we will rebuild together."
In Wynne, Ark., one tornado cut a path through the small town that divided the city in half while killing four people.
"We're just gonna need all the help that we can [get] to help these families recover," Wynne Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told CNN.
President Joe Biden said on Sunday he reached out to Hobbs and Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, among others, to assure them that federal assistance will be available to affected areas.
"I've directed my team to bring every element of the federal government together to help with immediate needs and long-term rebuilding," Biden said in a White House statement. "Early this morning, I approved an expedited major disaster declaration to quickly provide federal assistance to the people of Arkansas.
"There's nothing we can do to heal the hole left in the hearts of far too many families who lost loved ones this weekend, but we will be there every step of the way as they rebuild and recover."
Emergency crews from electric companies have rapidly restored power to many communities. At one point, nearly 250,000 customers were without power in Indiana, Arkansas, Minnesota, Illinois and Ohio cumulatively. As of Monday, that number was down to just more than 17,000, according to PowerOutage.us.
