LITTLE ROCK — Storms swept across Arkansas early Wednesday causing damage in at least five counties, including fallen trees, downed power lines and wind-torn homes.
As many as 56,100 electrical customers were without power in the aftermath of the storms, but most had been restored by late Wednesday.
A Lonoke County man helping with post-storm cleanup was flown to a central Arkansas hospital Wednesday morning after being struck by a falling tree limb. He suffered a head injury but is in stable condition, said Lt. James Kulesa of the Lonoke County sheriff's office. The man also suffered a dislocated hip and shoulder.
The name of the man, who was helping clear debris from a church on Arkansas 294, was unknown, Kulesa said.
"We had a lot of trees down in the south area and the Woodlawn community," he said.
In addition to Lonoke County, Cleburne, Prairie, Faulkner and White counties reported storm damage to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. There was damage in other counties that wasn't reported to emergency management officials, said spokesman Renee Preslar.
Faulkner County had a natural gas line damaged by a lightning strike, she said.
Emergency management offices in Cleburne, White and Pulaski counties reported trees and some power lines down.
In Cleburne County, strong winds destroyed a house, a mobile home, two barns and a shed. Minor wind damage to roofs and windows was also reported. Most of the debris there has already been cleaned up, and all roadways in the county are clear.
White County had fewer than 10 houses damaged by wind and falling trees. Pulaski County saw minor damages in its eastern part, emergency management officials said.
The Lonoke County sheriff's office issued a news release Wednesday afternoon warning residents about scams related to storm-debris cleanup.
Some were caught trying to overcharge the elderly, Kulesa said. They were charging $1,100 for about $50 of work, he said.
Scammers target "people that can't really go out there and do this stuff for themselves," Kulesa said.
The storms left debris and power failures in their wake in many counties.
About 3,000 Entergy customers were still without power as of 7 p.m. Wednesday, including about 1,300 in Lonoke County and 900 in White County, according to the company Web site. Almost 25,000 Entergy customers were without power in the hours after the storms.
Doug White, vice president of system services for Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., said a peak of 15,000 customers were without electricity because of the high winds. Most of those customers have since regained power.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, about 6,000 Arkansas Electric customers were still without power, he said. About 90 percent of those were in Lonoke County.
"Co-op crews are feverishly working to get them back on," White said. "We are anticipating the majority will have their power back in 24 hours - the vast majority."
First Electric Cooperative reported 6,700 power failures Wednesday afternoon.
Lonoke County was by far the hardest hit, with about 4,100 power failures, said spokesman Neal Frizzell. About 1,200 customers in north Pulaski County and another 1,200 in southern White County were still without power late Wednesday.
A peak of about 13,000 of the company's 85,000 customers lost power, Frizzell said. Early Wednesday, a high-voltage transmission line was causing several thousand power failures in the Cabot area, but it was restored by midmorning.
"We have all crews working, and we've brought in crews from other parts of our system to help with restoration. We're expecting and hoping that most, if not all, will be restored by late tonight," he said Wednesday afternoon.
There were about a dozen broken electric poles, he said. Some of the power failures were due to tree limbs falling across power lines. There was also some lightning damage.
Southwestern Electric Power Co. had about 150 customers in the Texarkana area without power, all of which were restored by early Wednesday, said spokesman Peter Main.
The National Weather Service sent crews out to survey the damage, said Steve Bays, a hydrologist at the North Little Rock office.
"We have people out assessing the damage to determine whether or not a tornado occurred and to look at the extent of the straightline wind damage," he said.
The crews were driving through Lonoke County, where there was a tornado warning Wednesday morning. Part of White County also had a tornado warning. The weather service would have more information today, he said.
Arkansas, Pages 9, 16 on 08/06/2009