Storms passing through south Arkansas in advance of a line of heavy rainfall prompted tornado warnings for several counties in the region, and two tornadoes were reported. There were no reports of injuries.
The National Weather Service says flash flooding is likely as a major storm dumps more rain on areas already soaked by weeks of record-setting precipitation. Forecasters say 5 to 7 inches of rain is expected in parts of central and southern Arkansas through late Friday, with the heaviest rain on a line from Salem to Little Rock to Camden. Areas east and west of that boundary should see 3 to 5 inches of rain.
Thursday afternoon, the agency issued tornado warnings for Miller, Lafayette, Union, Calhoun, Ouachita, Grant, Cleveland, Jefferson and Dallas counties in south Arkansas and for Pulaski and Lonoke counties in the state’s central section. Shortly before 4 p.m., the weather service said a tornado was reported in East Camden, with several trees blown down. Damage was reported to buildings at the Arkansas Fire Academy in East Camden.
Also, the Ouachita County sheriff’s office told Little Rock television station KATV that at least one tornado had struck in southern parts of the county, in the Louann-Frenchport area.
Meanwhile, in western Arkansas, the main line of storms entered the state from Oklahoma during the early evening hours. The weather service reported that trees were felled by wind at Y City and Waldron in Scott County.
At Magnolia in Columbia County, 3.1 inches of rain fell between noon and 4 p.m., according to Mike McNeill, editor of the Banner-News daily newspaper. He said that brought the total for October so far to 26.49 inches.
Elsewhere, water was reported covering parts of Arkansas 229 and Arkansas 8 in southeast Dallas County.
Entergy Arkansas said about 1,000 of its customers were without power in the Fordyce-Smackover area.
John Worthen with the El Dorado News Times contributed to this story.