A storm system with winds topping 80 mph blew through northeast Arkansas on Tuesday afternoon, peeling roofs off homes, flipping tractor-trailers and downing trees.
No one was injured, authorities said.
Storms developed over southwestern Missouri on Tuesday and dropped into Arkansas as a ridge of high pressure over the state retreated to the west. High winds, lightning, hail and torrential rains advanced across the northeast from Mountain Home to Forrest City.
In Randolph County, winds of 80 mph ripped a roof off a mobile home in Biggers, and fallen trees littered the county, the National Weather Service in Memphis reported.
Entergy Arkansas, the state's largest power utility, reported more than 10,000 homes and businesses were without electrical service at the storm's peak late Tuesday afternoon.
Mississippi County had the most power disruption, with 5,560 businesses and homes without service.
"We had winds up to 80 mph," Mississippi County Office of Emergency Services Director Joseph Richmond said. "It was the first time I could ever feel the winds inside the courthouse. We had straight-line winds that were pulling air out."
He said trees toppled in the county, but there were no reports of serious structural damage.
A tractor-trailer flipped at a truck stop on Commerce Drive in southeast Jonesboro on Monday afternoon as winds nearing 60 mph blew through, said Jeff Presley, director of the city's E-911 center. Another tractor-trailer jackknifed in high winds, blocking traffic on East Johnson just north of downtown Jonesboro, and one blew on top of a parked car at a factory.
The storm system "bowed," or developed into a C shape, as it crossed into Sharp County, indicating the presence of strong winds, said National Weather Service meteorologist Julie Lesko of North Little Rock.
There were no tornadoes reported.
"There were ripples of energy on the eastern side of the system," Lesko said. "There was the [atmospheric] instability and the lift needed to create the group of storms."
The system moved quickly across the northeast, leaving the state and crossing the Mississippi River into Tennessee and Mississippi by early evening.
Lesko said there's a slight chance for the development of similar storms across much of the state today as temperatures continue to hover in the mid-90s. The entire state is under a heat advisory today, meaning high temperatures combined with humidity could create health problems.
State Desk on 07/15/2015