Tornado injures 6 people, damages homes in state

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MITCHELL PE MASILUN --3/26/2017--
A mobile home lies on its side after being blown over by a tornado that struck Friday night near Kato in Northern Pulaski County Sunday March 26, 2017.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MITCHELL PE MASILUN --3/26/2017-- A mobile home lies on its side after being blown over by a tornado that struck Friday night near Kato in Northern Pulaski County Sunday March 26, 2017.

An EF2 tornado touched down in a mobile home park at the Pulaski-Faulkner county line Friday night, leaving six people injured, four homes destroyed and several others damaged, according to the National Weather Service.

The twister touched down between 11:20 and 11:27 p.m. along Frenchman Mountain Road, authorities said.

In other parts of central Arkansas, high winds toppled trees and broke utility poles.

Entergy Arkansas crews worked all day Saturday to restore power to about 20,000 customers, a spokesman said.

At the failures' peak, the utility reported 4,700 without power in White County and 3,200 in Pulaski County. By Saturday afternoon, crews had restored power to 80 percent of those customers.

Any Entergy customers still without power can visit entergyarkansas.com to obtain the projected time when their electricity will be restored, officials said.

Friday night's winds were reported to have reached 70-80 mph.

Downed power lines closed some roads for at least part of the day Saturday, including sections of Arkansas 270 in Garland County and parts of several roadways in White County, according to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

In White County, several businesses and homes received roof damage from the overnight storms.

On Saturday morning, neighbors were in the Pap's Place parking lot in Bald Knob helping Debbie Horton collect sections of her business's tin roof.

"We had a neighbor call, and we came down at about 1:30 [or] 2 this morning," Horton said Saturday.

"We had tin all over the parking lot and lumber, so we pretty well got it cleaned up. We had some really good neighbors come in," she said. "I'm going to try and patch the roof before the next rain comes."

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White County Emergency Management Director Tamara Jenkins said the biggest issue in the county as of Saturday afternoon was traffic along Arkansas 167, a portion of which had been closed because of fallen power lines.

"Entergy is here, and they're working on it, but it's a traffic mess right now," Jenkins said.

Wind damage also was reported in Benton in Saline County and in the Lonsdale area of Garland County.

Storm damage was also reported in neighboring states. An apparent tornado destroyed a church in Ringgold, La., the Bienville Parish sheriff's office said in a statement Saturday. No injuries were reported.

Storms in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana knocked out power to more than 15,000 customers, according to reports. Thousands more were without electricity in Texas.

Forecasters say more heavy rain, large hail and tornadoes are possible in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma by the end of the weekend. Thunderstorms are expected to develop this afternoon and track eastward.

Information for this article was contributed by Jeff Martin and staff members of The Associated Press.

Metro on 03/26/2017

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