At least one dead and 28 injured after concert hall roof collapses in US
Sylvie Claire / April 1, 2023
A severe storm caused the roof of a concert hall to collapse in the town of Belvidere in the U.S. state of Illinois on Friday night. At least one person was killed and 28 other concertgoers were injured, US media reported. In Arkansas, a state south of Illinois, a tornado also killed at least three people and injured dozens.
According to Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle, five people in the concert hall were seriously injured, five were slightly injured and 18 people have moderate injuries. The venue was hosting 260 people for a concert by death metal bands Morbid Angel, Revocation and Skeletal Remains.
Belvidere, a town of 25,000 people in northwestern Illinois, is about 100 miles from Chicago. Winds of up to 90 miles per hour were recorded at the time of the accident.
In Arkansas, a tornado killed at least three people Friday night and injured about 600 others. Tornadoes were also reported in Tennessee, Wisconsin, Iowa and Mississippi. About 110,000 people are without power in Illinois, 74,000 in Arkansas and 27,000 in Iowa, reports the trade site PowerOutage.us.
A week earlier, a tornado in Mississippi and Alabama had already killed at least 26 people.