Thunderstorms again slam state

LITTLE ROCK — A strong line of thunderstorms pushed across Arkansas on Tuesday evening, downing trees and knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers, authorities said.

Though weather conditions early in the evening appeared to be similar to those that sparked deadly winds and tornadoes last week, no one was killed or injured and only two buildings were damaged, state officials said.

In eastern Garland County, a large tree fell on an occupied house at 150 Boone Trail, and in Alexander, another home was damaged by a falling tree, said Tommy Jackson, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

As of 10:45 p.m., Jackson said no other buildings had been reported damaged, but his office had received widespread reports of downed trees and electrical lines causing thousands to lose power.

At least 43,000 Entergy Arkansas customers lost power during the storms, said spokesman David Lewis. Crews were working through the night, but “I can assure you that there will be a large number of outages left for tomorrow,” he said.

A further 12,400 customers in North Little Rock, including residents in the Levy, Park Hill, Pike Avenue and downtown areas, were without power late Tuesday, according to the city’s electric department.

Southwestern Electric Power Co., which supplies electricity to counties along the western portion of Arkansas, reported none of its customers in the state were without power as of late Tuesday evening.

In addition to power failures, the National Weather Service in North Little Rock received reports of storm winds exceeding 50 miles per hour and more than two dozen funnel clouds during the evening, but only one report of a tornado touching down,meteorologist John Robinson said.

The reported twister was spotted about 9 p.m. in Lonoke County, south of Bevis Corner, he said, but as of 10 p.m. no major damage had been reported in that area.

The damage was a far cry from the seven tornadoes reported in Arkansas less than a week ago.

Seven people in the state died during last week’s storms that were part of a large line of severe weather that moved from Oklahoma through much of the south. All told, the storms killed at least 46 people and spawned more than 200 tornadoes, according to The Associated Press.