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'We are still responding': 8 dead, dozens injured due as tornadoes strike Arkansas, Illinois

The monstrous storm hit the South and Midwest, tearing homes and shopping centers in Arkansas into pieces

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS: The death toll has risen to eight, and dozens more injured due to tornadoes striking in Arkansas and Illinois State. The monstrous storm hit the South and Midwest, tearing homes and shopping centers in Arkansas into pieces. In Illinois, a theater roof shattered during a heavy metal concert, and many are critically hurt in the Little Rock area, according to authorities.

At least four people died in the town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas, confirmed the town’s coroner. Moreover, officials also updated that many people are still trapped in the debris of wrecked houses. The latest report coming from Sullivan County states that there have been three deaths in the area. It was confirmed by Indiana's emergency management director, Jim Pirtle on CBS News. Due to the theater roof collapse, one person died and 28 got injured, around five being critically hurt.

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'It's going to be OK'

The Belvidere Police Department informed that the department started getting calls from the theater at 7.48 pm after a heavy storm rolled through the region. The massive damage occurred at the Apollo Theatre during a concert in the town located about 70 miles northwest of Chicago. "I was there within a minute before it came down. The winds, when I was walking up to the building, it went from zero to a thousand within five seconds," shared Gabrielle Lewellyn who had just arrived. "They dragged someone out from the rubble and I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him) 'It's going to be OK.' I didn't know much else what to do", she told WTVO-TV.

'Praying for all'

Mayor Frank Scott Jr, who earlier said that he had requested assistance from the National Guard, tweeted in the evening, April 1, that property damage was widespread and "we are still responding." A resident of Little Rock, Niki Scott told, "It's just like everyone says. It got really quiet, then it got really loud." Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, got 100 members of the Arkansas National Guard on the ground zero to assist local authorities. "Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm," she said on Twitter.