EVANSVILLE -- A tornado ripped through a rural corner of southwestern Washington County and northwestern Crawford County late Wednesday night, seriously injuring two people, uprooting trees, crushing chicken houses and peeling the roofs off homes, officials said Thursday.
Two people were flown to a Tulsa hospital after the storm that hit about 10 p.m. Wednesday overturned their mobile home, said Dennis Gilstrap, Crawford County emergency management department director. Gilstrap wouldn't release the names of the man and woman Thursday.
The mobile home is less than 2 miles south of Washington County, Gilstrap said. About three other homes in Crawford County had minor damage, he said.
No one was seriously hurt in Washington County, said John Luther, county emergency management department director. Three homes were destroyed, and at least six were damaged, Luther said.
The storm swept across Washington and Crawford counties and then through parts of Madison and Benton counties, said Peter Snyder, National Weather Service meteorologist in Tulsa.
A National Weather Service survey team from Tulsa rated the tornado as an EF2 with winds reaching as high as 135 mph.
About 500 residents near Evansville, an unincorporated area in Washington County, and across the state line in Oklahoma were without power Wednesday night after the storm took down power lines and poles, said Penny Storms, a spokesman with Ozark Electric Cooperative. By 4:45 p.m. Thursday, only two homes remained without power, she said.
The storm toppled trees in Benton County, but damage there was not significant, said Mike Dixon, county emergency management director.
No damage was reported in Madison County, said Whitney Green, public information officer with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The only other damage reported in the state was in Johnson County, where high winds downed trees and power lines, and damaged chicken houses and two homes, she said.
The storm was fast-moving, Evansville residents and officials said. Tornado warnings were issued at 10:05 p.m., 10:16 p.m. and 10:37 p.m. as the storm swept northeast, Snyder said.
A loud noise outside awakened Terry Hudson, who woke his wife, Susan, asleep on the couch, and they ran to the bathroom. As they fled, a window near the couch shattered, and shards scratched them, Terry Hudson said.
The roof on the house at 22114 Ray Road peeled away, and Hudson said he could hear cracking as the log cabin splintered apart. The walls bowed, and the decks around the home were ripped away. Trees crashed down outside.
"I think it was pretty much a full-on hit," Hudson said. "Every direction you want to look there's a tree laying that way."
The storm seemed to pass in about 45 seconds, he said.
About the same time, Dave Roberts at 21323 Dodd Mountain Road heard a roar. Roberts said he told his wife, Dorothy, to run to the storm shelter while he grabbed his shoes. They made it as far as the pantry, Roberts said.
The roof of the 12-year-old home peeled away, and Roberts said he could hear the house breaking apart around them.
"Then it was over. You could see the clouds," Roberts said. "No time for fear."
Electricity remained out for most of the day, Hudson and Roberts said. Cellular service was spotty, residents said.
Electrical crews were working on lines Thursday afternoon near the Hudsons' home, and county road crews were cutting up trees that had fallen across Dodd Mountain Road.
Members of Hudson's family walked around the cabin snapping photos with their phones and picking up items. Insulation was stuck in trees. Metal sheets were wrapped around the trees that remained standing.
On Wednesday evening, Hudson had left Van Buren and gone to Evansville to feed his cattle and spend the night in his second home -- the one he planned to retire in, he said.
"It's hard to get me down," Hudson said. "Everybody's alright. We're happy. We're alive and happy. We'll get over it."
State Desk on 03/25/2016