Following a series of deadly storms that ripped through the South and Midwest over the weekend, video footage of a woman being dragged from a building by a tornado at 6:45 a.m. ET on Monday was viewed more than 920,000 times on Twitter.
Forecasters believe the tornado moved about 32 miles over Little Rock, Arkansas, on Friday, according to the video, which was one of several shared online. The storm not only caused widespread damage but also power outages and vehicle overturning.
The Associated Press reported that dozens of tornadoes may have killed at least 26 people, including four in the small town of Wayne, Arkansas. A second woman is thought to have died in a tornado in Madison County.
Officials in Little Rock, Arkansas’s capital, said more than 2,600 buildings were in the path of the tornado. One person was killed and 50 others were seriously injured in the Little Rock area.
On March 31, 2023, homes and buildings damaged by a tornado are seen in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declares a state of emergency following a devastating storm that is said to have killed at least 26 people across the United States.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has not rated any tornadoes, but the one that passed through Little Rock on Friday was classified as an EF-3, with estimated peak winds of 165 mph and a maximum width of 600 yards. According to the report, the last high-level tornado to hit the area was in January 1999.
The EF-3 rating is the third highest on the Extended Fujita Scale, which is used to rate tornado wind speed based on the amount of damage it causes.
The NWS Little Rock declared a tornado emergency Friday afternoon, and on Sunday thanked colleagues in Memphis for taking control and issuing a warning as teams were forced to seek shelter from the storm. It was also stated that the tornado that passed through Wayne was at least EF-3.
A woman with a camera can be seen waving at a man to go to a dental practice in the city’s northwest in the video, which was shared on Twitter by several users. She kept looking out the glass door at the approaching tornado. “Oh my God,” exclaimed the woman.
Then, as the woman and man tried to close the door to keep the wind out, debris began to hit the building’s side. The door’s glass shatters, and the woman appears to be dragged into the vortex before the man can pick up his camera.
Following footage showed people seeking refuge in the building’s restrooms, as well as leaves and debris on the hallway floors. “There I am,” the woman said before realizing her “car had gone missing.”
The weather has been a “nightmare” for central Arkansas, according to the NWS. After the tornado passed, a road sign was spotted 13 miles from where it was supposed to be marked, according to KATV weatherman James Bryant.