GENTRY -- Curtis and Cheryl Gallaway's friends and family helped the couple sift through what was left of their home to gather up belongings Friday morning.
The Gallaways weren't home when a storm hit shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, tearing the tin roof from their house, knocking out brick walls and blowing away a carport.
The damage was attributed to a small tornado, rated an EF1, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa. An EF1 tornado has wind speeds from 86 to 110 mph and causes moderate damage -- stripping roofs, overturning mobile homes, tearing off exterior doors and breaking out windows.
The Gallaway's house at 145 WPA Road on the west edge of the city appeared to be a total loss, with the roof blown off on the west side and walls out on two sides of the house.
Debris was scattered in the fields and pastures to the east. A 4-by-4 piece of lumber was sticking out of the ground to the west of the house, and other pieces of lumber could be seen driven into the ground to the northeast.
The Gallaways' house was insured, but insurance can't replace all that was lost or destroyed, Curtis Gallaway said.
A McKee Foods Corp. plant east of the Gallaway's house also suffered damage. Debris was piled up in the parking lot Friday morning.
"It came across the parking lot in the rear of the McKee Foods plant," said Marshal Watson, Benton County emergency services administrator. "It took a metal building -- a shed, if you will -- and tossed it on some of the employees' cars that were in the parking lot. There was also damage to some of the semis there."
By the time the storm reached the east side of the county, it was less severe, although there were some reports of trees down in the Monte Ne area, Watson said. No injuries were reported.
Damage began at houses to the west of the Gallaways' house and continued along a path that ended at Arkansas 59 and Peterson Road, where trees were shattered and uprooted, Gentry Fire Chief Vester Cripps said. The Fire Department removed trees from the roadway after the storm.
Other homes and buildings along the storm path, including some homes in the Pine Circle area, had shingles blown off, Cripps said.
State Desk on 07/11/2015