‘Mass casualty event’ reported in Arkansas town after tornado hits

Reuters) – A tornado caused a “mass casualty situation” in Vilonia, Arkansas, after ripping through the town yesterday, a spokesman for the Faulkner County Sheriff’s office said.

The spokesman said the number of casualties was not immediately known. The tornado also struck the nearby town of Mayflower.

A spotter in Mayflower, Arkansas, 22 miles northwest of Little Rock, reported a 1/2-mile (800-meter) wide tornado crossing Interstate 40 at about 7:30 p.m., the National Weather Service said.

At least one person was killed in a tornado in a small Oklahoma town in the northeast corner of the state, according to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Derek Derwin. Media and the National Weather Service reported that two people were killed.

That twister was spotted in Quapaw, 200 miles northeast of Oklahoma City at about 5:45 p.m., according to the weather service.