Leveled homes, overturned vehicles and uprooted trees were scattered across central Arkansas on Saturday after several tornadoes ripped through the state, killing two people and injuring nearly two dozen others, authorities said.
At least one person drowned after heavy rain fell in western Arkansas, said Renee Preslar, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
The woman killed by a tornado was among three people in one of several homes destroyed by the Friday night storms in the small community of Scotland, about 75 miles north of Little Rock, said Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley. The two other people inside the house were hurt, and one remained hospitalized Saturday, the county’s emergency management coordinator said. The person’s condition hasn’t been released.
Severe damage was reported in broad swaths from near the Missouri border to the north to Saline County about 20 miles south of Little Rock, said Brian Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Little Rock. But officials were working Saturday to determine exactly how many twisters hit.
“There appear to be at least a half-dozen tracks, but in some cases there may have been one long track,” Smith said. “We’re out there trying to determine exactly what happened.”
Damage assessments were under way in the community of Scotland as day broke in Van Buren County, about 75 miles north of Little Rock, where authorities said at least one person died in Friday night storms. A sheriff’s department dispatcher said details were expected to be released later Saturday.
Bob Parent, a high school teacher and bus driver, said he and his wife, Kathy, were sitting in the living room of their home in Scotland on Friday night when the power went out and they heard the tornado approaching.
“We barely got inside the doorway of the kitchen when it hit,” Parent said. “We hunkered down on the floor. I covered her up and the house went away around us.”
The storm took off the roof and one wall of Parent’s home, and another wall was partially caved in.
High water swept a car off a low-water bridge about 9 p.m. Friday in Scott County, south of Fort Smith on the Oklahoma line, and the driver drowned after getting out of the vehicle and being swept away, Preslar said.
More storms, including tornadoes, could hit the state Saturday, Smith said. He cited lingering warm, moist air and instability expected to persist into the evening. Flash flooding also was a threat, mainly in eastern Arkansas.
At least 23 other people were hurt across Van Buren and several other counties, state Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Renee Preslar said. Officials in many counties referred questions to the state agency, but Preslar said local authorities who provide her with updates hadn’t released details about the severity of the injuries.
Initial reports of three people dead, 25 injured were inaccurate, Preslar said. "As in any disaster, everything is an estimate," Preslar said. " Fortunately in this case the human toll has gone down."
Search teams Friday night located a person believed missing in the wreckage of a home in Center Ridge, while extensive property damage was reported across central Arkansas, Preslar said.
Tornado sightings were reported just a few miles north in Culpepper, according to Arkansas State Police. A sheriff’s dispatcher said a sighting also was reported in the Oakland area, near the Missouri border. Trees and power lines blocked major roadways in both areas.
South of Little Rock in Saline County, high winds and heavy rains left nearly 3,000 people without power and forced about 100 to take shelter at an elementary school in East End late Friday, officials said.
Maria Atwater told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette she brought her parents to the school from their nearby home.
“My parents were in the storm cellar in the front of the house right where the trees are down now,” Atwater said. “It just ripped up the yard.”
Dierks resident Sara Grey said via email that her town's only laundromat and a commercial storage facility were destroyed.
http://focus.arkans…">Storm photos: Day 1
"It was so strange how it just came down in one spot right before my eyes, took out the building, then lifted right back into the air just to dip back down and take out the other building on the other side of town," she said.
About 50 National Guard troops were deployed to assist authorities in Scotland.
Arkansas National Guard spokesman Capt. Chris Heathscott said in a statement that 50 troops also were mobilized to assist Saline County’s East End community, where about 100 people took shelter at an elementary school Friday night.
“That’s what our taskings are right now, to provide search-and-rescue operations as well as assisting civil authorities with security in the area,” he said.
Red Cross disaster teams, which include nurses and mental health professionals, were in Scotland, East End and other communities assessing damage and distributing water, food and supplies as needed, said spokeswoman Brigette Williams.
John Robinson, warning coordinator meteorologist with the NWS in Little Rock, said a slow-moving front from the west touched off the severe weather Friday.
“We had spotty thunderstorms here and there, and those are the ones — the ones that sit out there by themselves — that end up being tornado producers,” he said, noting Arkansas’ tornado season generally peaks in April.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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