The devastating time comes as President Joe Biden tours the aftermath of a deadly tornado that hit Mississippi a week ago.
First responders in the US state of Arkansas were searching the ruins for more possible victims after a violent tornado roared through the country, killing at least three people and injuring dozens.
On Saturday, the twister tore roofs and walls from many buildings, overturned vehicles and knocked down trees and power lines.
A flurry of extreme spring weather swept across much of the United States on Friday, threatening thunderstorms and tornadoes across the Midwest from Texas to the Great Lakes.
In northern Illinois, one person was killed and 28 injured when a storm blew the roof off a theater during a heavy metal concert.
The two Arkansas deaths occurred in Wynne, about 100 miles (160 km) east of Little Rock, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
Although more than 30 people were taken to Little Rock-area hospitals, no one had died as of Friday night, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said, adding that the number remained imprecise.
“Truly by the grace of God we have not experienced any fatalities to date,” Scott said at a news conference.
One of several areas that was hit was a section of west Little Rock, home to 2,100 people, Assistant Police Chief Andre Dyer said.
Two states away, in Belvidere, Illinois, a riverside town near the Wisconsin border, one person died and 28 others were rushed by ambulance to local hospitals, five with serious injuries, Fire Chief Shawn Schadle told reporters.
Schadle said about 260 people attended the concert at the city’s Apollo Theater, which featured headliner Morbid Angel as part of the Tour of Terror group.
Concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO television that people took shelter in the basement when the roof collapsed.
Some people rushed to lift the collapsed part of the ceiling and pull people out of the rubble, said Lewellyn, who was not injured.
“Someone was pulled out of the ruins. And I sat with him, I held his hand and I said that everything will be fine. I really didn’t know what to do anymore,” Lewellyn said.
The turbulent weather came as President Joe Biden toured the remnants of a major storm that hit the state of Mississippi last week.
A swarm of thunderstorms unleashed a deadly tornado that devastated the town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, destroying many of the community’s 400 homes and killing 25 people. One person died in neighboring Alabama.
Bident promised rebuilding in Mississippi as forecasters warned millions of people to prepare for massive storms brewing over at least 15 states in the Midwest and South, with more than 85 million people under weather warnings Friday.