Severe thunderstorms delivered much-needed rainfall but unwelcome wind damage in parts of Arkansas.
John Robinson, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Little Rock, said as of 8:30 a.m. Friday, Ratcliff, which is on the border of Franklin and Logan counties, got the most rain with 2.56 inches.
Cove, on the far western border of Polk County, saw 2.22 inches of rain. Robinson said the storm system that hit the state Thursday night left the central, eastern and southeastern parts of the state out of the system, while the western part of the state was the favored area. Rainfall totals will be updated throughout Friday, he said.
During Thursday’s storms, winds of at least 60 mph were reported in western Arkansas. Authorities say there were no immediate reports of injuries, but some homes and trees were damaged.
In Arkansas, a tree was blown onto a house in Paragould in Greene County and an unoccupied house was damaged near Center Ridge in Conway County. Tree and power line damage also was reported in Craighead County.
Robinson said the chance of rain is slim this weekend, but if it does rain it will be in the southern part of the state. The added moisture will also increase the chances of heat advisories to be issued this weekend.
Robert McFarland, a dispatcher with the Arkansas Forestry Commission, said the fire that started in Ola on Wednesday is contained and being kept safe by fire crews in the area. He said the Forestry Commission will take a look at the fire from the air later Friday to see how large the burning area is.
The fire covered about 1,200 acres, according to the Forestry Commission. The Ola fire started Wednesday about 10:30 a.m. and spread because of high temperatures and low humidity.
McFarland said the fire is no longer spreading, but it has "hot spots" throughout what's left of the fire.
"Rangers are working on the edge of the fire, and they cut snags with chain saws," McFarland said.
Bulldozers and chain saws are being used to contain the fire, he said.
"We use 'dozers' to build a road around [the fire] and keep everything [contained]," McFarland said, adding that one bulldozer crew was working on the Ola fire Friday.
The Yell County Office of Emergency Management has cooling shelters set up at the Ola Assembly of God Church and the Fourche Valley School Community Building that opened at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. This cooling shelter is being set up due to a power outage that affected approximately 175 Entergy customers from Ola to the County Line on State Highway 28.
Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.