At least 2 people are killed and many are injured when a tornado strikes central Arkansas.

 At least two people were killed and dozens of people were injured when a powerful tornado tore through Little Rock, Arkansas, and nearby communities on Friday. It tore off the roofs and walls of numerous buildings, flipped over cars, and brought down trees and electrical lines, according to officials.

A rock band was performing on stage when, hours later, authorities said they believe another tornado or extremely strong wind tore through the roof of an auditorium in northern Illinois, forcing the ceiling to fall.

According to Shawn Schadle, the fire chief of Belvidere, a riverbank hamlet close to the Wisconsin border, one person died and 28 others were taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals, five of them with critical injuries.

A concert featuring the band Morbid Angel as a part of the group's "Tour of Terror" was taking place at the city's Apollo Threatre, according to him, and approximately 260 people were in attendance.

One of the multiple intense thunderstorms that ravaged a sizable portion of the US heartland as part of a much wider area of catastrophic spring weather gave rise to the mid-afternoon twister in Arkansas and the storm in Illinois.

The sole major trauma centre in the area, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital, issued a level-1 mass casualty alert when the tornado hit Little Rock, the state's capitol and most populated city, in the middle of the afternoon.

At least two people were killed in a tornado in Wynne, roughly 160 kilometres east of Little Rock and close to the Tennessee border, according to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a late-night news conference.

According to Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., the fire department and other emergency workers took close to 30 injured persons to local hospitals, but "by the grace of God, we have not seen any fatalities."

The mayor called the property damage "extensive," and police said some locations in the city's western part were the hardest damaged.

Just over the Arkansas River from the capital in the neighbouring town of North Little Rock, Baptist Health Medical Center reported treating 11 storm-related patients, one of whom was in critical condition.

At least two people were killed in a tornado in Wynne, roughly 160 kilometres east of Little Rock and close to the Tennessee border, according to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a late-night news conference.

According to Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., the fire department and other emergency workers took close to 30 injured persons to local hospitals, but "by the grace of God, we have not seen any fatalities."

The mayor called the property damage "extensive," and police said some locations in the city's western part were the hardest damaged.

Just over the Arkansas River from the capital in the neighbouring town of North Little Rock, Baptist Health Medical Center reported treating 11 storm-related patients, one of whom was in critical condition.

A photo of a severely damaged high school in Wynne was shared by KATV.

One week prior, a cluster of thunderstorms released a catastrophic tornado that decimated the Mississippi village of Rolling Fork, destroying the majority of the 400 homes there and leaving 26 people dead.

In a live interview broadcast by KATV, a woman recalled being at a nail salon getting her nails done when she looked out the window and noticed leaves swirling just before the roof of the building was torn off.

The woman, who appeared unharmed, claimed that she and other people in the shop sought refuge in a back room when the tornado hit and came out to discover the ceiling gone.

Approximately 100 National Guard members were called into action, according to Governor Sanders, who also signed an executive order authorising the immediate release of $250,000 from the state's disaster response and recovery budget.

The tornado occurred as a wave of exceptionally harsh spring weather moved across much of the United States, posing a threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes to the country's middle, from Texas to the Great Lakes.

At least 30 unconfirmed tornado reports were being monitored by the National Weather Service (NWS) across Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, and Iowa.

The NWS reported that on Friday evening and into the weekend, tens of millions of Americans across the Great Plains, Midwest, South, and East were under warnings and advisories for numerous weather dangers.

The meteorological service determined that, in addition to Arkansas, southern Missouri, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee were at the greatest risk of severe thunderstorms that might produce strong tornadoes, huge hail, and damaging winds.

It was anticipated that the storm system's northern, colder edge, which extended from the High Plains to the upper Great Lakes, would bring significant snowfall and gusts gusting to 80 km/h, resulting in blizzard conditions.