20 dead as storms rip state in wake

Tornadoes cut a deadly swath through Arkansas on Saturday, killing at least 20 people.

The state Office of Emergency Services reported five dead in Pulaski County, four in Clark County, two in Jackson County and nine in Saline County. More than 200 people were reported injured.

Gov. Mike Huckabee declared a state of emergency in Clark, Saline and Pulaski counties as rescue workers combed through twisted debris of destroyed homes and businesses. The Arkansas National Guard was sent to the areas and will impose curfews to discourage looting.

Morrie Goodman, director of communications for the Federal Emergency Management Administration, said FEMA Director James Lee Witt had spoken Saturday with Huckabee and President Clinton. Damage estimate teams are en route to Arkansas, and Witt and other FEMA officials could be in Arkansas today.

"Governor Huckabee has not yet requested federal aid, but we expect that to happen," Goodman said. Clinton, in New York, urged Witt to "do everything possible for Arkansas," Goodman said.

The fast-moving storm roared up Interstate 30 through Arkadelphia in Southwest Arkansas about 3 p.m., then smashed through an estimated 30 mobile homes on Sardis Road in north Saline County.

It then moved up U.S. 67-167 through Little Rock. Meanwhile, storms cut devastating paths through Searcy, Denmark, Newport, Campbell Station, Marmaduke and parts of Lonoke County.

In Arkadelphia, where the tornado cut a path about a quarter-mile wide through the city, early reports were grim. Four people were killed and scores were injured or missing as the tornado leveled parts of the historic downtown, demolished a trailer park and overturned cars in the Clark County city.

Shocked, crying and bloodied, residents crowded the emergency room at Baptist Medical Center in Arkadelphia, recounting how they faced death only minutes earlier.

"It's a miracle. It's a miracle," said Mary Faulknrr, who pulled her family from a demolished mobile home on Cutler Street. A bruise had already appeared under her left eye, and tear stains left trails down her mud-encrusted cheeks as she recounted their narrow escape.

Faulknrr said she, her mother, brother and nephew heard what sounded like a freight train and were scrambling to a walk-in closet when the tornado slammed into their double-wide mobile home. She yanked her brother, pinned behind a television set, from the debris.

LaJohn Smith, 24, was cooking corn bread and lima beans in his mobile home when the lights suddenly went out.

"Before I knew it, the trailer tilted up at an angle and I started sliding," he said. "I hollered and it seemed like it took forever for my neighbors to dig me out."

Smith, whose leg, head, arm and face were bleeding, had a cut nose and a deep cut in his leg.

Frantic families pushed through the milling crowds at the hospital, hoping to find lost relatives. "There are lots of people in the emergency room whose loved ones are not accounted for," said Lewis Shepherd Jr. of the New Haven Baptist Church in Camden.

Rescue headquarters have been set up at the Clark County Fairgrounds. Twelve search teams of five to eight members went house to house to determine how many others are dead, injured and to account for the missing.

Troy Hankins of Little Rock was driving home from Dallas when he spotted the tornado outside of Arkadelphia. "It came right down on the interstate," he said. "I was about 20 miles behind it. You could see trees and barns torn up and trucks and cars turned over in fields."

In downtown Arkadelphia, sirens screamed and emergency lights flashed through the night as workers tunneled through the rubble downtown. Demolished buildings included the Clark County Courthouse, where a recently installed clock was blown out of its tower. Wells Discount Shoes, Citizens Bank, the state revenue office and Murry-Ruggles Funeral Home also were damaged. The hardest hit area appeared to be at Third and Walnut streets.

The entire front of a yellow Victorian house was ripped off, making it look like a doll's house. Inside a computer sat unscathed on a desk. Across the street, the storm flattened a neighbor's home.

Interstate 30 from Little Rock to Arkadelphia was closed. The Diamond Valley chapter of the American Red Cross in Arkadelphia set up a shelter at the Park Hill Baptist Church.

Baptist Medical Center in Arkadelphia treated about 63 patients with storm-related injuries, said spokesman Lyndon Finney. Fifteen of those were admitted to those hospital, and seven were in serious condition.

Ten patients with serious injuries first seen at Baptist Medical Center in Arkadelphia were transferred Saturday night to other hospitals in Arkadelphia, Little Rock and Hot Springs.

Some of Arkadelphia's injured were sent 45 minutes away to St. Joseph's Hospital in Hot Springs for treatment. St. Joseph's treated and released 12 patients and admitted three, including one in serious condition to the intensive care unit.

Two people in the Denmark community, about 10 miles north of Bald Knob on U.S. 167, were killed when a tornado touched down in the area.

The dead were identified as Mickey Harding, 21, of Pleasant Plains, and Tony Smith, 29, address unknown, according to Rhett Maris, deputy coroner for Jackson County.

Seven mobile homes and 11 houses were heavily damaged or destroyed. Many of the injured were taken to a Searcy hospital.

Earl Hardy, who lives near one of the trailers, was feeding his cattle in his barn when the tornado hit. "I got down behind the wall of the barn and kept looking out to see if the house was still there,'' he said. "My wife was in it." Trees fell all around his house, but never hit it. His wife wasn't injured.

Hardy said he peered out and saw the roof of his neighbor's barn blow away. "And then my roof just left off the top," he said.

Debris was scattered throughout the tiny community. In one yard, a car stood on end.

White County deputies and Arkansas State Police troopers gathered weapons, mainly rifles, found scattered on roads and in yards. The Red Cross set up a shelter at the Church of God at Velvet Ridge.

In Paragould, a shelter has been set up at the First Methodist Church to respond to damages in nearby Marmaduke.

A severe thunderstorm also hit Jacksonport, Tuckerman and Campbell Station. Missy Hodo, a Jackson County Sheriff's Department dispatcher, said "half of Jacksonport is gone. Leveled. But there were no fatalities there as far as I know." The town has about 260 residents.

The restored White River steamboat Mary Woods No. II at Jacksonport State Park was thrown 150 feet onto the riverbank during the storm, according to the sheriff's office.

Tom Pagano, spokesman for Southwestern Bell Telephone, said about 40,000 customers in Southeast Arkansas lost phone service Saturday.

The central office in Hickory Ridge, which serves as the primary switching office for Southeast Arkansas, was hit and only one wall was left standing, Pagano said.

Residents in Forrest City, Cherry Valley, Wynne, Helena, West Helena, Brinkley, Wheatley, Cotton Plant, Clarendon, Holly Springs, Marvell and Elaine were without phone service. Pagano said 911 calls were being rerouted through other offices.

Carole Copeland, spokesman for Entergy, said 14,600 customers throughout the state were without power Saturday. Those numbers don't include Arkadelphia residents.

Copeland estimated service would be restored by Monday or Tuesday.

About 5,800 homes in Little Rock, 2,500 in Batesville and 1,800 in Harrisburg were without power.

Huckabee called the twister-laden weather system "one of the most devastating storms to ever hit our state.

"We may end up before the night is over counting as many tornadoes in this one night as we had almost all year last year. ... We are talking about an extraordinary evening of weather."

Along with disaster declarations for three counties, Huckabee called out Arkansas National Guard units to aid rescue efforts, provide emergency equipment and water, and keep the peace.

The state will decide whether to seek federal aid after Huckabee and other state officials survey the devastation today by helicopter.

"But I can tell you, barring unforeseen things and based on what we currently know, I think you can anticipate that we will be making that request tomorrow," Huckabee said at a news conference Saturday night outside the Governor's Mansion.

Joe Dillard, director of the state Office of Emergency Services, called the devastating storms "a major event. It's going to tax the state of Arkansas' resources."

Huckabee later spoke with Witt, who promised whatever federal aid was needed, Huckabee spokesman Rex Nelson said.

The chief concern is rescuing people trapped in debris, Huckabee said. Downed power lines and broken gas lines also are concerns, as are other storm systems that moved into areas devastated by the earlier storms, he added.

"There's no question right now that the single greatest issue right now is the preservation of human life, then the protection of human life and of property," Huckabee said.

The governor said he has received no reports that warnings of the tornadoes were inadequate.

"I really think that the warning systems have operated today to the best of our knowledge," Huckabee said. "We've heard indications that there were sirens. I know that they went off here in Little Rock.

Early warning systems, including a new emergency broadcast system that went on-line recently, appeared to have worked, he said.

"That was good news," Huckabee said. "But it was not good enough news. The bad news is that no matter how much warning you have, you can't stop a tornado."

Huckabee warned Arkansans not to enter devastated areas. "That is the single most important thing they can do," he said.

"The second thing they can do, quite frankly, is to seriously pray for those people who are both the trained workers as well as the victims.

"And the third thing they can do is be alert to opportunities when volunteers are called for, and I think there will be needs. We will need people volunteering to go in with chain saws and pickups and so on.

"But that comes after the initial effort to make sure that we have the victims pulled out. The medical needs as well as the utility concerns really need to happen before folks go in to start look at clearing just for the sake of clearing."

Huckabee and Dillard spent the early evening at the Governor's Mansion but later moved to the state Capitol, where they had access to better communications.

Both have been receiving telephone calls directly from those affected by the storms. Huckabee spoke with Rep. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, who Huckabee said was at his downtown Arkadelphia pharmacy when the tornado hit. He also said he was receiving "on-the-ground" reports every 20 minutes from Saline County Judge Terry Parsons and Sen. Doyle Webb, R-Benton, working in the hard-hit Sardis Community.

Nearly 200 members of the National Guard have been called out to work in devastated areas, Nelson said.

The largest concentration is in Arkadelphia, where 124 Guard members have been activated. Another 36 have been activated in Pulaski County, 26 in Saline County and 12 in Greene County, which suffered extensive damage and injuries at Marmaduke.

"Numerous operations personnel are working at Camp Robinson tonight," Nelson said.

Huckabee praised the "cooperation and wonderful professionalism" of the work of state, county and local officials and relief workers.

"Everybody's worked together," he said. "The other factor that can't be overlooked is that so many, literally hundreds of people, have poured in their own resources voluntarily.

"They've been out there providing blankets, shelter and chain saws, making sure they were part of the effort to find the folks who were injured. You saw ... people literally being brought in pickup trucks into the hospital.

"We've really seen what we know about the people of Arkansas. They respond beautifully."

Contributors

Staff writers Jim Brooks, Sandy Davis, Kristen Everett, Linda Friedlieb, Mary Hargrove, Jim Kordsmeier, Jay Meisel, Doug Peters, Noel Oman, Chris Reinolds, Susan Roth, Judd Slivka, Joe Stumpe, Mark Waller and Frank Wolfe provided reports on the fatal storms that swept through Arkansas on Saturday.