Storms return, take fewer hits

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansans hunkered down once again Tuesday as a strong line of storms packing high winds, heavy rain and large hail tore through much of the state just a day after at least four tornadoes hit.

Ten people died during the tornadoes and simultaneous flooding that submerged parts of Arkansas on Monday.

In all, nearly two dozen counties - mostly in the southwest and central regions - declared disasters after reporting downed trees, destroyed homes, flooded roads or injuries.

More than 60,000 homes and businesses remained without power late Tuesday night, according to reports by Entergy Arkansas Inc., First Electric Cooperative and Southwestern Electric Power Co.

As of Tuesday night, National Weather Service survey teams had found evidence of at least four tornadoes, the strongest being an EF3 - with winds between 136 and 165 miles per hour - northwest of Fountain Lake in Garland County.

The weather service also reported two EF2 tornadoes hitting Vilonia and Sunshine in Garland County, as well as an EF1 in Hot Springs Village, meteorologist B.J. Simpson said.

“It’s a mess,” said forecaster John Robinson, who spent Tuesday touring the hardest hit areas.

Long before sunrise Tuesday, Gov. Mike Beebe had declared a state of emergency and forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., issued a rare alert for a high risk of tornadoes in the region.

But the evening’s storms didn’t pack as powerful of a punch as some had feared.

A “probable” tornado touched down in the community of Wickes in southern Polk County, but officials wouldn’t know for sure until survey crews visited the site today, Simpson said.

Elsewhere, storms produced heavy rain and straight line winds as high as 70 miles per hour. Hail as large as baseballs fell in Sparkman, he said.

Storm damage was “kind of scattered,” said Tommy Jackson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

At least 10 counties reported wind and flooding damage Tuesday night, including Crittenden County, he said. Several buildings were damaged, tractor-trailers were blown over, and a county official reported damage to an auto parts plant in Marion.

In Grant County, sheriff’s office dispatchers said several homes were evacuated after an uprooted tree caused a propane-gas leak in a mobile home park.

Earlier Tuesday, the dire forecast had officials in Faulkner, Garland, Pulaski and other counties scrambling to assess the damage from Monday’s storms as quickly as possible.

But after looking over what was left of the walls at Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church in the Palarm community, pastor James Hayes was in no rush to tarp the remains of his church.

It might be best, he said, if wind or a tornado wiped the property clean, especially since the church didn’t appear salvageable.

“We’ve been talking about getting a new building for a while,” Hayes said. “And now we’ll be doing it.”

‘BEEN THROUGH HELL’

Tornadic thunderstorms moved into the state Monday afternoon from the southwest and reached near the Faulkner County town of Vilonia just after 7 p.m.

Vilonia Fire Chief Keith Hillman said the city set off its tornado siren at least 30 minutes before the tornado touched down.

There would have been more injuries and deaths had they not sounded the siren that early, Hillman said.

The four people who died in Faulkner County were in the Black Oak Ranch Estates, a rural neighborhood of mostly mobile homes southwest of Vilonia.

Faulkner County spokesman Stephan Hawks identified those killed as Charles Mitchell, 55; Craig D. Garvin, 63; and a married couple in their 40s, Katherine and David Talley of Greenbrier, who were visiting in the area.

Hawks said Mitchell and Garvin were in mobile homes at the time. The Talleys sought shelter in a tractor-trailer rig that was then picked up and thrown into a pond, Hawks said.

The storm destroyed at least 60 homes and damaged 77 others in the Vilonia area, Hawks said, adding that he drove around Black Oak Ranch Estates on Tuesday afternoon.

“These people have been through hell,” he said.

Volunteers poured into Vilonia on Monday night and Tuesday as the town cleaned up and prepared for the next wave of storms.

Eric Sweatt helped clear debris and load up trailers of belongings at Toby Rowe’s house in the Quail Hollow subdivision as part of a volunteer group from the New Life Church in Conway.

“It’s something we like to do,” Sweatt said. “If it was one of us, we’d need help, too.”

WHIPPING WIND

The storm also left behind wreckage near Sunshine and in Hot Springs Village in Garland County, weather service officials said.

The Walnut Valley community on Arkansas 7 was also among the hardest-hit areas. Pieces of mobile homes were wrapped around telephone poles and trees. Insulation hung from downed power wires like Christmas tinsel, and the insides of several homes lay exposed.

Across Arkansas 7, Walnut Valley Baptist Church members and pastors found damage to the church’s main building and the pastor’s house. The youth pastor’s home had been nearly destroyed.

Gaping holes exposed the church foyer and gymnasium. The hall where a group had just held a church after school program - and where the stragglers hunkered down and prayed as the storm hit - was mostly spared.

“There had just been more than 60 kids here,” said MikeKolasch, who works with the program. “We were blessed. God saved those kids right before it came through.

“The last child had been picked up not five minutes before the worst part of the storm hit.”

Less than five minutes later, Kolasch said, he was forced off the road by the winds and stayed at a nursing home a few feet away where others had also taken shelter.

In the church hall, about a dozen people opened the windows to prevent suction from building up in the structure, and then they began to pray.

“The wind was whipping around debris and insulation, and the water was pouring in, in sheets,” youth pastor Sam Bierig said. “Everyone was safe, and no one was hurt. It was a sovereign God last night.”

Across the parking lot, three houses that stood near the highway were gone.

Zora Erceg stood gripping a picture of her late husband, who she said was killed five years ago. She had picked through the twisted remnants of the family’s storage shed, finding a few items that had been spared.

She tenderly touched some heirlooms - a tea cup, a bedspread, a tablecloth - saved from before the family moved from Bosnia to the United States.

“I looked out the window and I saw this big truck moving on its own, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

“It’s just gone, all gone.”

‘ HEARTBROKEN’

Parishioners at the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church in the Palarm community near Morgan in Pulaski County experienced a similar loss.

The same storm that spawned the Vilonia twister slammed their church Monday evening.

On Tuesday morning, the strains of “How Great Thou Art” could be heard from within the caved-in sanctuary.

Seated at the piano, which sat next to a still-standing wall, was Jesse Johnson, who had dropped by to see if he could help.

“I just felt an overwhelming power in this place,” he explained. “I couldn’t resist.”

Hayes has commanded the pulpit at Mount Pilgrim for the past 20 years. Around 6 p.m. Monday, a member of the 100-year-old congregation called him.

“The church is gone,” the caller reported.

Hayes tried then to get to there, but fallen trees blocked the road.

Around 10:30 p.m., a Pulaski County deputy drove the worried minister in. As they pulled up the hill, the deputy’s headlights illuminated the devastation.

“I was heartbroken,” Hayes said. “It brought tears to my eyes.”

The deputy pulled out a flashlight and allowed Hayes to walk a little closer. An entire side of the sanctuary had caved in. Sodden chunks of ceiling were draped across old wooden pews.

“We will rebuild,” the minister said, surveying the debris-covered drums, a battered sound system and drenched carpeting. The church is insured.

The only item unscathed in the sanctuary was the upright piano.

And as Hayes walked out into the sunshine, Johnson launched into a rousing rendition of “Amazing Grace.”

‘LONG WAY TO GO’

The storm also unleashed its destructive winds in Pulaski County.

At Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville alone, 100 airmen’s homes sustained severe damage. Many lacked roofs; others looked like dollhouses with only the interior walls intact.

Cars in the parking lot of the Base Exchange store and commissary lay in mangled piles of metal, having been tossed hundreds of feet from their parking places.

Eight C-130 cargo planes and several hangars were damaged. Seven major power lines were knocked to the ground, temporarily leaving the base without power.

“We have a long way to go, but we will get through this. From great tragedy comes great resolve and commitment,” said Col. Mike Minihan, 19th Airlift Wing commander.

A major deployment of troops and planes to Iraq and Afghanistan was pushed back a day to allow airmen and their families to deal with the aftermath.

“The good news is we planned a healthy overlap so the delay will have no impact downrange on those airmen scheduled to come home,” he said.

Meanwhile, an intense effort began at dawn Tuesday at North Pulaski High School in Jacksonville to prepare it to reopen for classes Friday.

At about 8 p.m. Monday, powerful winds ripped off the roof of the school’s two-story auditorium, leaving the stage and its red velvet curtain exposed.

Part of the auditorium’s north brick wall collapsed, as did a wall of the school’s chemistry lab. That wall weakened the roof to a section of the school housing 15 classrooms.

Principal Jeff Senn, school staff members and Pulaski County Special School District officials met Tuesday to figure out how to accommodate the school’s 820 students for the remainder of the school year. Tentative plans include temporary classrooms in the school’s gymnasium and media center, spokesmanDeb Roush said.

Marlena Rowe, the chemistry teacher for the past 17 or 18 years, got the first look at what was left of the chemistry laboratory Tuesday afternoon.

It was easy to spot: The outside wall was missing. However, the chairs remained neatly stacked on tops of lab tables, just as her students left them.

“It’s pretty breathtaking,” Rowe said.

Parents can check the district’s website at pcssdweb.k12.ar.us for updates on North Pulaski High and other schools.

In neighboring Perry County, Sheriff Scott Montgomery told The Associated Press that authorities found the body of 52-year-old Larry Mitchell on Tuesday afternoon east of Casa.

Mitchell died after venturing out into high floodwaters, Montgomery said.

In addition to flooding, some in Perry County wonder if a tornado touched down. Heifer Ranch Director Keisha Patterson said splintered and uprooted trees dotted the rolling pastureland. Luckily, no one was injured at the ranch.

“We have good evacuation procedures,” she explained, adding that visitors and staff members were inside storm shelters well before trees began falling.

Patterson added that not a single animal - from the chickens to the water buffalo - was harmed.

RECORD FLOODING

The U.S. Geological Survey also reported record flooding in the state this week. Five of Monday’s victims were killed by flash flooding.

Arkansas State Police identified an elderly couple who drowned Monday evening in War Eagle Creek as Anthony Barro, 75, and wife Ruby, 72, both of Huntsville in Madison County.

U.S. Geological Survey field crews measured record flooding on the Illinois River in Washington County, where Consuello Santillano, 38, of Strickler drowned Monday evening.

Mary Cage, who’s lived on Opal Road in Bentonville for 12 years, said her husband, Robert, spotted a red truck in Osage Creek about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The couple contacted police, who found a man’s body about 10 a.m., she said.

The driver apparently drove around a barricade while attempting to cross a low-water bridge, Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson said.

A search-and-rescue crew had set up to look for a second man believed to be in the truck on Tuesday afternoon when a caller reported seeing the body, Simpson said. He declined to identify the deceased men.

More than 10 inches of rain fell along the Missouri-Arkansas border in northeast Arkansas over the weekend, forcing the Spring, Black, White, Eleven Point and Current rivers in the northeast corner of the state to overflow their banks.

“It’s raised up 4 to 5 inches in the past hour or so,” said Mike Gray, a Black Rock Fire Department firefighter who helped boat people from their homes to dry land. “I think it’s going to keep rising.”

Black Rock Mayor Bonnie Ragsdale said most people left.

State police closed U.S. 63 between Black Rock and Imboden on Tuesday morning as water from the Spring River lapped over the highway. Residents were evacuated in Imboden as a creek south of the downtown overflowed into an apartment complex and homes.

In Hardy, the Spring River had dropped 8 feet by Tuesday evening. The river crested at 20.7 feet at 3 a.m. Tuesday and then quickly lowered.

“It’s gone down quite abit,” Fire Chief Carrol Traw said. “But it could go up if we get the rain again.”

Weather service forecasters called for 2 to 3 inches more of rain in central and southern Arkansas for Tuesday night and today.

“After this [today’s rain] things should be tapering off a bit,” said Lance Pyle, a National Weather Service meteorologist in North Little Rock. “But there’s another round of storms for Saturday night. The rainfall could get on up there.” Information for this article was contributed by Amy Schlesing, Cathy Frye, Noel E. Oman, Debra Hale-Shelton, Claudia Lauer, Alison Sider, Tracie Dungan, Robert J. Smith and Scarlet Sims of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.