Some Bella Vista residents on the west side of the city will be without electricity until today because of damage from high winds Monday, a utility official said.
Carroll Electric reported 5,000 customers without power in Benton County as of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Most were in Bella Vista, said Nancy Plagge. She said at least 49 power poles were snapped in the county.
Electric crews have worked since the storm passed through Monday evening. By midday Tuesday, crews from neighboring electric cooperatives were assisting, according to a news release.
Bella Vista Mayor Peter Christie estimated late Tuesday morning that about half of the city's 31,000 residents were in the dark. Christie said street crews went home at 6 p.m. Tuesday after 18 hours on the job. They will return to work at 6:15 a.m. today, he said.
"Our greatest challenge is clearing fallen trees that are entwined with power lines," he said. "We continue to work closely with the Carroll Electric crews. Once they have removed the power lines and declared the area safe, our crews will move in to clear away the brush. We do ask that the public stay away from tree limbs that are caught up in the power lines and dangling over the ground. This is a very dangerous situation."
At least 200 trees were toppled on the west side of the city, Christie said. Members of the fire and police departments helped clear streets, and inmates from the Benton County jail pitched in to remove debris, Christie said.
A storm moved through the area about 10:30 p.m. Monday, said Bart Haake, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. Based on the data he had seen, Haake said straight-line winds probably caused the damage.
Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill reported a wind gust of 66 mph at 11:04 p.m. Monday, Haake said.
Robert McGowen, public safety administrator for the county, said he had no reports of any injuries.
McGowen was at Devizis Drive in Bella Vista on Tuesday morning where a tree had fallen across the street and was entangled in power lines.
The storm closed 36 roads in Benton County. All but three had reopened by 9 a.m. Tuesday, said Jay Frasier with the city road department. Rocky Dell Hollow, West Pierce and Oak Hills remained closed late Tuesday afternoon, he said.
Tree limbs were down from the county's border with Oklahoma along mostly a northern swing across the county, he said.
Damage was also reported in other parts of Northwest Arkansas.
In Centerton, a tree fell on a building that the Centerton Street Department uses to store some of its equipment, Mayor Bill Edwards said.
In Bentonville, Tony Davis, street manager for the city, said the first call of a downed tree came in at 11:40 p.m. Monday. Three crews worked through the night to clear trees and debris from roadways.
On Monday night, 15-20 trees blocked or partly blocked city streets, he said. All of the streets were open by Tuesday morning.
Davis said most of the fallen trees were on private property. The northwest part of the city took the brunt of the storm, including the Hanover, Stonehenge and Cardinal Creek subdivisions, he said.
The weather in the region is forecast to be mostly clear with temperatures in the low 80s today and in the low to mid-60s each night this week, according to the weather service.
Metro on 08/28/2019