Strong storms blow through state, leave a mess

Trees down, power out; Little Rock family trapped by sparking line

Sarah Chunn takes a look at damage caused by a downed tree and power line at her home in Little Rock on Saturday. She and her family couldn’t venture farther than the front door because of the live electric wire intertwined with the tree. More photos are available at arkansasonline.com/galleries.
Sarah Chunn takes a look at damage caused by a downed tree and power line at her home in Little Rock on Saturday. She and her family couldn’t venture farther than the front door because of the live electric wire intertwined with the tree. More photos are available at arkansasonline.com/galleries.

Sarah and Brian Chunn woke up Friday night to the sound of a crash.

Just outside their 8-year-old daughter's window, a poplar tree had bent and broken in the thunderstorms that crisscrossed Arkansas over the weekend, Sarah Chunn said.

Chunn said the first thing she and Brian did was check on their four children -- ages 2, 4, 5 and 8 -- before seeing what had caused the sound.

"The storm was just so loud," Sarah Chunn said. "We could hear the thunder and the hail outside."

Looking out their daughter's window, Sarah Chunn said she could see that a large branch -- several inches in diameter -- had fallen from the tree next door to their Little Rock home.

"At that point, we could just see leaves below the window. We didn't know the extent of the damage yet."

In the morning light, Sarah Chunn said she could see that the tree had not just lost a few branches -- a downed power line, two shattered windshields and more, still unknown damage were beneath the leaves.

The Chunn family was one of about 63,485 Entergy customers who lost power during the storms Friday night and Saturday morning, with the height of the power failures occurring about 5:30 a.m., utility spokesman Kerri Case said.

By 6 p.m. Saturday, the statewide number had dropped to about 32,000. The bulk of the power failures were concentrated in Pulaski County. Affected areas included portions of west and south Little Rock as well as communities just to the city's south.

For some Arkansas residents, including those in Pulaski County, electricity was estimated to return as late as this afternoon, according to Entergy Arkansas' online outage map. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service warned of high heat index values across much of the state Saturday and today.

"We've called in approximately 300 line workers from out of state to work the outages," Case said, noting that the workers are primarily coming from Louisiana and Texas. Some were set to arrive Saturday afternoon while the remainder would be on-site today, she added.

The workers were tentatively set to focus their restoration efforts on Russellville, Little Rock and Stuttgart -- the cities Case said received the most storm damage.

"Everywhere that we can, we've given customers an estimated time of restoration. In some areas, we are not able to give a time estimate yet," Case said.

Entergy estimated noon today as the restoration time for those in Pulaski County, but it said that time "could change as all damage assessments are completed or if other storm activity results in additional outages."

The fallen limb outside the Chunns' house on Shumate Drive left a live wire popping outside the front door, preventing them from approaching the damaged vehicles and leaving the family of six stranded at home.

"I have neighbors bringing me groceries and things, and they keep asking me if they can come help get the tree off, but we can't do anything yet," she said. "I'm just happy everyone is OK. All of our stuff we can replace."

National Weather Service teams were to survey the storm damage in Little Rock on Saturday afternoon.

Teams determined earlier Saturday that storm damage in Pope County was the result of straight-line winds of up to 85 mph. In Russellville, the glass front doors of a Fred's discount store were blown in and several trees were uprooted.

According to the National Park Service, the Buffalo Point area of the Buffalo National River also received "extensive damage" at a campground, cabins, a restaurant and trails.

Minor injuries to campers were reported at the north Arkansas site after a storm hit around 1 a.m., park spokesman Caven Clark said. Additional information regarding the number of people hurt was not immediately available.

"This entire area is currently being evacuated and will be closed for at least 72 hours to allow for emergency personnel and park staff to assess damage and begin repairs," the Park Service said in a statement around 9 a.m. Saturday.

Little Rock said Saturday morning on Twitter that more than 40 city workers were clearing trees. Their work was to continue through 5 p.m., and officials noted that the city would "reassess needs" today.

Austin Kellerman, news director at Little Rock station KARK, said on social media that the storms had affected the station's transmission tower and signal. The NBC affiliate was transmitting Saturday on a backup generator.

A large electrical transmission tower was also "blown over" in Pulaski County, according to a storm report.

Little Rock's Hindman Park Golf Course closed Saturday and will remain shuttered until further notice because of debris, the Parks and Recreation Department said in a statement.

In a travel advisory around 9 a.m., the Arkansas Department of Transportation said a portion of Arkansas 338 south of Little Rock, just west of Interstate 530, was closed because of downed power lines and trees. The 0.2-mile stretch remained closed around 4 p.m.

Extreme heat became the primary weather concern Saturday as crews worked to restore power. A heat advisory, in effect until 7 p.m., encompassed central and southern Arkansas.

Heat index values, which measure how the air feels when humidity is factored in, were forecast to reach between 105 and 110 degrees in those regions, meteorologists said.

Dozens of families ventured out in the heat to assess the damage around their homes after the storm.

Mary and Bob Stewart drove to their Chenal Circle home from their residence in Russellville to check for any storm damage and found an old oak tree well over a foot in diameter across their front steps.

The Stewarts, who moved to Little Rock in 1957 just after getting married, had initially planned to be in Little Rock for the weekend, but had delayed the trip.

"The Lord must have had a hand in that," Mary Stewart said. "If I had been here, I would have been in the hospital today. Storms terrify me."

Though their large, three-story brick home was virtually untouched by the storm, trees fell on almost every side of it.

"If one had fallen any other way, they would have hit the house," Mary Stewart said. "I think we were just really blessed."

Bob Stewart said he was especially happy that one thing survived the storm -- two large, metal winged lions that guard the front entrance.

"When we bought this house I told the owner, 'I'm not buying it unless you leave those here,'" he said.

The large oak went down between the two heavy statues, somehow missing both of them.

"I never really liked them," Mary Stewart admitted Saturday, smiling. "All that matters is that no one was hurt. I'm so thankful for that."

Metro on 07/22/2018

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