Killer storms' toll rises to 24

The death toll from Saturday's barrage of violent weather climbed to 24 Sunday — the same number as the nation's total deaths from tornadoes in 1996.

Officials with the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services confirmed another 399 people injured by tornadoes that struck mainly in Clark, Jackson, Pulaski and Saline counties.

More than 800 houses, mobile homes and other structures were damaged or destroyed. Outside the worst-hit areas, injuries and damage also were recorded in Conway, Cross, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Lawrence, Lincoln, Lonoke, Nevada, Pope, Poinsett and White counties.

Officials confirmed at least 10 deaths in Saline County, five in Pulaski County, six in Clark County and three in Jackson County.

The Red Cross reported that its four mobile feeding units and five fixed feeding sites served 4,350 meals over the past two days. The relief agency said its five shelters in Arkadelphia, Little Rock, Velvet Ridge and Marmaduke remain open.

March's roaring entry marked Arkansas' most destructive twisters since 1968, when a May 15 tornado killed 34 in Jonesboro.

"And this is just the beginning of the season," said Renee Fair, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. "We've got three more months of this. This week, the weather service marks the beginning of the severe weather season with its annual Severe Weather Awareness Week, declared last month by Gov. Mike Huckabee before anyone knew just how timely it would be.

The weather service had planned a statewide tornado drill between 9 and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, and it has distributed information encouraging residents and local governments to review severe weather safety rules, hazards and communication systems.

"Last year we had 67 percent participation in the schools in the state, but this year we're looking for a higher percentage," Fair said Sunday. "People will be active participants now because it's on the minds of everyone."

Spring means it's prime time for fierce weather in Arkansas, said Chuck Rickard, a meteorologist-forecaster with the weather service. Temperatures climbing to near 80, as they did Saturday, then quickly plunging 30 or 40 degrees indicate volatile conditions that result in severe thunderstorms and their offspring: tornadoes.

"With the atmospheric transition from winter to summer, the upper atmosphere is going through changes, and a lot of times the combination of warmer air and strong cold fronts coming through sets the stage for a clash of air masses," Rickard said.

Saturday was a classic example. A cold front traveling east from the Plains states smashed into warm, moist air moving north from the Gulf of Mexico. Most tornadoes move northeast, as they did Saturday, slashing through the state along Interstate 30 and then up the Highway 67-167 corridor.

Rickard said temperatures reached 77 degrees Saturday in Little Rock, Texarkana and Pine Bluff. A Morrilton weather station had a reading of 78. By Sunday afternoon, the cold front pushed that air southeast into Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Cooler and drier air was supposed to move into Arkansas behind the cold front and stabilize the atmosphere, but Rickard said conditions continued to change overnight.

"The front itself didn't get quite as far southeast as we thought it would," he said. "It slowed down. Mother Nature is sometimes tough to cooperate."

That meant another dreary day of clouds and showers throughout Arkansas and thunderstorms in some parts of the state.

Rickard said he expected the rain to taper off from the west, with lingering showers across eastern Arkansas early this morning but clearing later. Western Arkansas should see a good bit of sunshine today, he said.

Temperatures Sunday varied from the 40s in the north to 50s in the south. Rickard said highs may reach the 60s today if the sun breaks through.

The instability of springtime air doesn't make weather predictions any more difficult this time of year, Rickard said. In fact, he noted winter weather is sometimes tougher to forecast in this part of the country, and it can also be dangerous. Rickard also said the mild winter may have no connection to the storms or to a stormy spring. "We can look at trends, but we never have the same weather system twice," so experience is only partially helpful in forecasting, he said.

By Friday, meteorologists were predicting the possibility of severe weather Saturday.

"That's when things really started looking like they would come together," Rickard said. "You can never predict this many tornadoes, but you could see overall trends."

Officials with the weather service and the Office of Emergency Services said they believed the state's emergency alert system worked well. They hadn't received complaints by Sunday afternoon.

Jack DuBose, deputy director of emergency services, said the weather service feeds information to its weather wire and weather radio systems. State agencies pick up warnings from the wire and broadcast them to the Arkansas State Police, which notifies county officials.

Fair said warnings can get out in two minutes if the system is working well.

The weather service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., issued Arkansas' first tornado watch at 11:34 a.m. for several counties, effective until 6 p.m. The first tornado warning was issued in Johnson County at 12:42 p.m.

Including severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, the weather service issued a total of 55 warnings for the day, Fair said, ending with a severe thunderstorm warning for south Jefferson County at 6:52 p.m. All watches for the central part of the state ended at 9 p.m., but the Storm Prediction Center reissued a tornado watch at 8:35 p.m. until 3 a.m. in southern and eastern Arkansas.

The weather service received 17 reports of tornadoes sighted around the state on Saturday, from 1:50 p.m. in Newport in Jackson County to 5:02 p.m. in Oil Trough in Independence County.

But officials couldn't confirm Sunday how many tornadoes actually occurred, nor could they say whether those reported were from the same storm.

In accordance with federal law, when more than five deaths occur from severe weather, the weather service plans to send a team to examine the damage to determine the exact path of the storms and where twisters touched down, Fair said.

While weather experts reviewed data, repairs to utilities cut off by the storms proceeded Saturday night and Sunday.

Southwestern Bell Telephone spokesman Tom Pagano said long-distance phone service was repaired Sunday for nearly 40,000 people in Southeast Arkansas.

But about 800 residents of Hickory Ridge still were without phone service, Pagano said. Arkadelphia and parts of Pulaski and Saline counties hit by the tornadoes also were without phone service. It could be Tuesday or Wednesday before those phone lines are repaired, Pagano said.

Entergy reported about 7,500 customers across the state still without power Sunday, including 1,000 in Arkadelphia, 1,900 in Little Rock, with most in the Arch Street area. Officials said 7,000 customers had electricity restored by Sunday. And it will take two to three days to restore power to the heavily damaged areas of Southwest Little Rock and downtown Arkadelphia.

Severe storms caused damage or destruction to 25 steel transmission structures and 350 power poles across the state.

Entergy officials asked that residents stay away from live wires and any downed power lines. Also, people shouldn't trim trees or remove debris on or near power lines.

NorAm/ARKLA spokesman Jeff Smith said at least 600 homes lost gas service Saturday because of tornado and storm damage across the state. No numbers were available for Arkadelphia.

Gas service was turned on for homes not badly damaged, Smith said.

An uprooted tree split a gas main at the 3M plant near Little Rock National Airport, Adams Field. Workers repaired the main Sunday, Smith said.