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At least one person was killed and 28 were injured when high winds knocked down the roof of a theater in Belvidere, Illinois, while hundreds of people were attending a heavy metal concert Friday night.
The destruction in the city about 70 miles northwest of Chicago happened as a powerful severe weather system raked the Midwest. It wasn’t clear if a tornado had actually touched down to cause what the Belvidere police chief described as “chaos” — but the brutal aftermath was unquestionable.
Calls started coming in shortly before 8 p.m. of the damage at the Apollo Theatre, located in the downtown area of the city of roughly 25,000, according to Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle.
About 260 people were inside the venue for a metal show headlined by Florida death metal band Morbid Angel, along with the groups Crypta, Skeletal Remains and Revocation, according to Schadle and a flyer for the show.
Authorities work the scene at the Apollo Theatre after a severe spring storm caused damage and injuries during a concert, late Friday, March 31, 2023, in Belvidere, Ill.
The roof had fallen near the stage, videos posted to social media show. Responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to deal with downed power lines outside the theater.
Injuries were considered severe for five of the 28 injured. Authorities have not identified the person who was killed.
Belvidere Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as “chaos, absolute chaos.”
Video of the aftermath showed concertgoers struggling to lift the wreckage off other attendees.
Gabrielle Lewellyn had just entered the theater when a portion of the ceiling collapsed.
“I was there within a minute before it came down,” she told WTVO-TV. “The winds, when I was walking up to the building, it went like from zero to a thousand within five seconds.”
Some people rushed to lift the collapsed portion of the ceiling and pull people out of the rubble, said Lewellyn, who wasn’t hurt.
“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 really know much else what to do.”
The fallen marquee is seen at the front entrance of the Apollo Theatre where a roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Ill., during a heavy metal concert, late Friday, March 31, 2023. Belvidere Fire Department Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue at the time.
Belvidere had been under a tornado warning until 8:30 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Radar indicated a possible tornado, but it hadn’t been confirmed by Saturday morning.
On their Facebook page, Morbid Angel wrote that their show had been “canceled due to a tornado that hit the venue, and caused the roof, over the area in-front of the stage, and marquee to collapse.”
The members of Crypta posted that “WE ARE ALIVE & SAFE… ALL THE TOUR BANDS ARE SAFE AND WELL!” The band added that they had “lost our motorhome” in the destruction.
“Our hearts go out to anybody in the crowd who were injured,” the members of Skeletal Remains wrote.
Members of Revocation shared: “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this disaster.”
Shortly after the collapse, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his “administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight. I’ve been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can. As we learn more, please follow the guidance of all local authorities.
The severe weather was part of a system that tore through parts of the South and Midwest that killed a total of at least 10 people, shredding homes and businesses.
Emergency responders across the region counted the dead and surveyed the damage Saturday morning after tornadoes touched down into the night, part of a sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest.
The dead included four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, Cross County Coroner Eli Long told KAIT-TV. Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana and the Little Rock area.
The storms also killed three people in Sullivan County, Indiana, Emergency Management Director Jim Pirtle said in an email. Some residents were missing in the county seat of Sullivan, near the Illinois line about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.
At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said.
A tornado also killed a woman and critically injured three other people in Madison County, Alabama, emergency services worker Don Webster told WAFF-TV.
In the evening, officials in Pulaski County announced a confirmed fatality in North Little Rock.
Contributing: Associated Press
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