Arkansas town hit by tornado for 3rd time in 20 years; at least 6 twisters confirmed in state

Shon Smith searches debris Sunday near a tree that fell on his house at 3725 Ten Mile Road in Saline County near the Garland County line. The National Weather Service said two tornadoes touched down in Saline County late Friday.
Shon Smith searches debris Sunday near a tree that fell on his house at 3725 Ten Mile Road in Saline County near the Garland County line. The National Weather Service said two tornadoes touched down in Saline County late Friday.

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down Saturday in Marmaduke, marking the third time in 20 years that the Greene County town has been struck by a twister.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Map showing the location of Marmaduke, Arkansas

A team from the National Weather Service in Memphis surveyed damage Monday and said the EF-0 tornado, with winds up to 80 mph, traveled eight-tenths of a mile on the southeastern edge of Marmaduke.

The tornado formed at 1:34 a.m. Saturday and remained on the ground for about a minute. At its peak, the tornado was 120 yards wide, surveyors said. About 20 homes received roof damage, and a metal awning at Sam's Mini-Mart on U.S. 49 was destroyed.

The roof and roll-up doors at Anchor Packaging on U.S. 49 also were damaged, said meteorologist Steve Cromer at the National Weather Service in Memphis.

There were no injuries.

The Marmaduke twister was one of at least six confirmed tornadoes during storms Friday night and Saturday morning.

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An EF-2 with winds reaching 135 mph injured six people in a mobile home park at the Pulaski-Faulkner county line late Friday.

The National Weather Service in North Little Rock also said two tornadoes touched down near Nance in Saline County and two others formed in the Lonsdale area in Garland County.

Meteorologist Chuck Rickard said a surveying team from the National Weather Service in North Little Rock was inspecting the damage Monday.

The National Weather Service confirmed that 21 tornadoes have touched down in the state this year, Rickard said. Last year, 25 twisters were reported for the entire year.

Crews continued cleanup Monday in Marmaduke.

Part of a large metal awning that had been over gasoline pumps at Sam's Mini-Mart rested in a crumpled heap.

"The top of the awning is gone," store employee Ashley Suggs said. "The storm ripped it off. They found most of it, and it's laying in a huge pile."

Suggs said she slept through the storm Saturday morning.

The twister formed south of the town and crossed U.S. 49, bearing down on a residential area along East Maple Street in the town's southeast.

"People say Marmaduke is in 'tornado alley,'" City Clerk Betty Jackson said, referring to twisters that hit the town in 1997 and in 2006. "But there are more tornadoes everywhere."

On March 1, 1997, an F-3 tornado hit the western side of the town, killing one person. It was part of a series of storm systems that spawned more than a dozen tornadoes across the state and resulted in 25 deaths.

Nine years later, on April 2, 2006, another F-3 tornado followed the same path in Marmaduke, destroying dozens of homes, and damaging the high school and the town's baseball complex. No one was injured in that storm, officials said.

Both tornadoes had wind speeds of up to 206 mph.

The National Weather Service upgraded its tornadic rating scale on Feb. 1, 2007, and began using the EF, or "Enhanced Fujita," scale named after its founder Tetsuya Fujita.

"Whenever we get storms coming, people do get nervous now," Jackson said. "We all remember those other two tornadoes."

On Monday, storms also soaked northeast Arkansas with heavy rain. Pea-sized hail was reported in Craighead and Greene counties, Cromer said.

The National Weather Service said more storms are expected in the state Wednesday. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the western half of Arkansas has a high chance of receiving damaging winds and a moderate chance of tornadoes Wednesday.

State Desk on 03/28/2017

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