Major-disaster status declared

County will get federal aid; loss of homes put at 3,000

Gary Moore (top photo) finds a tattered flag Tuesday while searching through the rubble of his home in the Parkwood Meadows neighborhood of Vilonia.
Gary Moore (top photo) finds a tattered flag Tuesday while searching through the rubble of his home in the Parkwood Meadows neighborhood of Vilonia.

MAYFLOWER - President Barack Obama approved a major-disaster declaration for Faulkner County on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Gov. Mike Beebe sought federal aid for the area hit hardest by Sunday’s tornado.

The twister, which the National Weather Service in North Little Rock has tentatively rated as an EF3 with winds up to 165 mph, killed 15 people, including 11 in Mayflower and Vilonia. Three others were killed in western Pulaski County near Paron, and one died in El Paso in southwest White County.

More than 3,000 homes in the three counties were left uninhabitable, Entergy Arkansas officials said Tuesday.

In Pulaski County, standing on a concrete slab that was once the Tittle family home, Beebe spoke Tuesday with family members of Robert Tittle. Tittle and two daughters, Tori and Rebekah, were killed in the tornado.

“It’s real random,” the governor said. “It’s hard to understand. Some escape, and some don’t escape.”

Farther north in the Somersett Estates neighborhood of Roland off Arkansas 10, Beebe canvassed damaged areas with state Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock. The governor said the storm was “as powerful, if not more powerful, as anything we’ve witnessed.




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“It’s heartbreaking, but then it’s heartwarming to see people pull together and help one another,” he said. “Inevitably, some of the first people to show up at a disaster are the ones from the previous disaster who received that help before.”

Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokesman Kathy Wright said Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives will set up disaster-response centers in Mayflower and Vilonia to assist residents affected by the storm.

“They’re coming in as we speak,” Wright said Tuesday afternoon. She said teams began assessing damage late Tuesday and will return to affected areas today.

Tornado victims returned to their damaged and destroyed homes Tuesday in Vilonia, sifting through the wreckage for whatever could be salvaged.

Tornado cleanup enters second day in Vilonia

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In Mayflower, authorities imposed a boil order and a 7 p.m. curfew as residents continued to clean up from the deadly tornado. Homeowners and scores of volunteers went about packing belongings and cutting through debris to salvage what they could.

Throughout the day, insurance adjusters, electrical crews, gas company workers and tree-trimming services swarmed into the damaged areas on Plantation Drive in Faulkner County and farther west around the Lumber 1 store on Arkansas 365 in Mayflower.

The lumber yard’s millworks shop - where workers made doors, windows and trim - was reduced to a heap of twisted steel beams and crushed tractor-trailers.

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FILE PHOTO: Ken Garnsey helps sort through the pile of rubble April 29, 2014 at his friend James Tkacik’s home in Vilonia after a tornado.

A few yards away, Bill and Virginia Ausbrooks and their son, Mark, survived the storm by huddling in a closet.

“This was the first time I listened to my wife in 62 years,” Bill Ausbrooks, 82, said while standing among the remains of his home. “She said to go back to that closet, and I wanted to go back to the bathroom.”

His wife, 79, laughed, adding, “You should see the bathroom now.”

Inside the closet, clothes still hung neatly Tuesday and Christmas decorations sat undisturbed. The rest of the home - including the bathroom - was mostly destroyed. The roof was gone, and a large tree had crushed most of the home’s western side so badly that firefighters had to free the Ausbrookses after the storm.

Bill Ausbrooks said the cleanup will likely take several days and possibly weeks. But the couple said they felt fortunate.

“We were blessed because we got out without a scratch,” Virginia Ausbrooks said.

Across the street, Ralph and June Van Cleve watched as crews with Blue Hill Towing and Recovery tried to upright the Van Cleves’ tractor-trailer.

On Saturday, Ralph Van Cleve had parked the 2000 Freightliner, which was hooked to a trailer containing 45,000 pounds of tea in gallon jugs. The full rig weighed about 80,000 pounds. Sunday’s tornado toppled it over like a domino.

“Anything that can throw around 80,000 pounds, a regular house can’t stand a chance,” June Van Cleve said Tuesday as the towing crews hooked cables to the rig, which rested on its driver’s side.

The truck was the Van Cleves’ only one. It was insured, but their home, which was also damaged Sunday, wasn’t.

“It may put us out of business,” she said. “I guess when it’s time to get off the road, God will let you know.”

Charlie Stender was standing under his carport Sunday evening when he saw the tornado moving toward him on Arkansas 365.

“I could see a wall coming up 365, approaching from the south,” he said. “Everything was going up into it. Then the sound started. You could hear the rumble.”

Stender rushed into his house where he and his wife, Rose, huddled with their two small dogs, Abby and Molly. Outside, their two other dogs, Lucky and Max, were in their dog-run.

“They went for a ride,” Stender said. The storm overturned the dogs’ house and smashed it into a chain-link fence, but the dogs were not harmed. “They were running crazy, wondering what they were going to do next.”

The Stenders’ home was mostly unscathed, but it was left without water, gas or electricity. Like many other residents, they were staying in a motel Tuesday.

More than 1,300 Entergy linemen and contractors from Oklahoma continued repairing utility poles and power lines. The utility company has established a staging center at the Faulkner County Fairgrounds, where workers are also being fed.

Entergy spokesman Sally Graham said more than 500 utility poles were destroyed and at least 628 spans of power lines were damaged. The tornado also severely damaged an electrical substation in Mayflower and tossed a 30,000-pound hydraulic truck into an Entergy facility. However, Graham said, all homes in Vilonia and Mayflower that are capable of receiving electricity, should have it back by Friday.

By Monday evening, Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas linemen had repaired fallen lines and restored power to the 10,000 customers who lost service during the storm, cooperative spokesman Rob Roedel said.

“We dodged the ball on this one,” he said of damage in the cooperative’s service area. Most of the power disruptions were in Pulaski, Cleburne and Craighead counties. “We had some damage, but it puts it into perspective when you consider the loss of life in the state. Our hearts and prayers go out to them.”

Nearby at Lake Conway, a popular fishing spot, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fisheries personnel will remove storm-tossed debris from the water through Friday, Chief of Fisheries Mark Oliver said in a news release.

“A lot of it will be debris from buildings, roofing materials, insulation, structural materials, household furniture and appliances,” he said in the release. “One of our biologists saw freezers and other big appliances in the lake.”

Also Tuesday, workers finished clearing Interstate 40 of smashed and mangled vehicles between mile markers 137 and 139.

Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said wrecker crews moved 30 disabled tractor-trailers, commercial vehicles and private vehicles. Somehow, no one was injured when the twister struck those vehicles, he said.

“That’s an amazing part of the story,” Sadler said. “There was an angel on the shoulder of the interstate.”

The tornado cut a 40-milelong path through Pulaski, Faulkner and White counties before moving back into the clouds Sunday evening, weather service meteorologists said. A short time later, it re-formed, or “recycled,” and traveled another 40 miles into Jackson County.

As the storm system continued northeast, it carried heavy rainfall that deluged some areas. Batesville received 7.6 inches of rain within 3 hours - a record for the Independence County town. Cherokee Village in Sharp County received nearly 6 inch-es of rain, causing the South Fork of the Spring River to quickly flood.

On Tuesday, Cherokee Village road superintendent John Kyllo said he had inspected damage to roads and culverts.

“We’ve had people who’ve lived here for more than 30 years say it’s the worst damage they’ve seen since the 1982 floods,” he said, referring to a Dec. 3, 1982, storm that dropped nearly 11 inches of rain there.

Kyllo said runoff from the area’s hilly terrain cut trenches through roads and uprooted trees. Crews filled in some roads to make them passable for school buses.

The rising Black River forced the closure of Arkansas 25 between Black Rock and Powhatan on Tuesday, and water reached the Powhatan Historic State Park grounds.

Weather service survey teams continued to inspect the tornado damage Tuesday and are expected to determine the storm’s actual track today.

Sunday’s tornado, if confirmed as an EF3, would be the first of that strength in the state since May 25, 2011, when a twister traveled 29 miles through Johnson and Pope counties. It would be the second EF3 in the United States this year. The first EF3 twister of 2014 struck Whichards Beach, N.C., on Saturday, weather service officials said.

This week’s twister marks the fifth time that Vilonia has been hit by a tornado, according to weather service records. Four people died in an April 25, 2011, storm. Tornadoes also struck the town on March 12,1961; Dec. 23, 1982; and Dec. 24, 1982.

If survey teams confirm that two tornadoes touched down Sunday, the twisters will be the second and third in Arkansas this year, said National Weather Service meteorologist Julie Lesko of North Little Rock.

Arkansas averages 33 tornadoes a year. Last year, there were 34 confirmed twisters.But a much cooler spring kept the turbulent weather normally associated with late March and April at bay this year, she said.

“We will still have disturbances as we warm up,” she said. “Will it become more active? Will it play catch-up? We’ll have to see what the weather system brings.”

Information for this article was contributed by Spencer Willems of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Crews with Blue Hill Towing and Recovery use tow trucks and winches to right June and Ralph Van Cleve's tractor-trailer in Mayflower.

Tornado-toppled tractor-trailer uprighted in Mayflower

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Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/30/2014

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