A line of severe thunderstorms swept through south Arkansas on Sunday night, uprooting trees, destroying historic buildings and knocking out power to more than 128,000 homes.
"Early assessments for some areas reveal damage comparable to the back-to-back ice storms in December of 2000," said Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas.
The damage could take several days to repair, according to the company. Priority is being given to hospitals, water treatment plants, police and fire stations, and communication systems.
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"The damage is widespread and significant, with substations and transmission lines out of service due to the storms," according to a news release from Entergy Arkansas.
Most of the damage was from Interstate 30 eastward, said Brian Smith, senior forecaster for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
Smith said the weather service had no confirmation of tornadoes in Arkansas as of Monday afternoon. He said most of the damage appeared to be straight-line winds. But the same storm front spawned reported tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia.
One person died when a tree fell on a house north of White Hall, said Karen Blevins, director of the Office of Emergency Management in Jefferson County. Coroner Chad Kelley identified the deceased as Clayton M. Resor, 62, of Redfield.
Blevins said 30 to 40 houses were damaged in Jefferson County, and more than 100 streets and roads were blocked by downed trees or power lines. Blevins said most of the county was without electricity.
Kevin Smith, the mayor of Helena-West Helena, said 80% of his city was still without electricity Monday. He said eight people were trapped in their homes Sunday night because of downed trees and power lines. In some neighborhoods, century-old oak trees blocked streets.
When rain saturates the soil on Crowley's Ridge, it's easier for strong winds to uproot even the largest trees, said Smith. Part of Helena-West Helena is on the ridge.
A deep layer of fine-grained, wind-deposited soil caps Crowley's Ridge, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. It was created millions of years ago as glaciers moved across the continent.
Smith said Helena Regional Medical Center was operating on generator power Monday. He said all entrances to the hospital were blocked by downed trees during the night but they were cleared in the early morning hours.
For a few hours in the middle of the night, Helena-West Helena didn't have telephone service, 911 service, police dispatch service or access to the city's hospital, the mayor said.
By Monday afternoon, much of that was restored, but the Police Department still didn't have electricity or dispatch service, and cell service was spotty all over the city.
Smith said some people were without water in West Helena and a pumping station was down in north Helena, which was causing some flooding.
"We've had a lot of people over there today with chain saws helping us move trees and limbs," he said.
Smith said the historic Centennial Baptist Church was destroyed.
"It looks like a bombed-out World War II ruin," he said.
Built in 1905, the Gothic Revival brick building was on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark.
The church's original pastor was Elias Camp Morris, whom President Theodore Roosevelt appointed in 1908 as an emissary to the Belgian Congo.
"It was one of the most significant African American churches in the country," Smith said. "It was very prominently featured on the speaking trail for all the great African American speakers from about Reconstruction to the Civil Rights era."
Smith said efforts were underway to restore the church. He said it might be possible to save the church's two bell towers.
"It's better than nothing," he said. "It's certainly possible it could be reconstructed the way it was."
Two other historic buildings on Cherry Street also were destroyed, said Smith. One, called the Crescent Building, had housed a Sterling dime store.
Smith said Phillips County Judge Clark Hall had declared the county a disaster area.
Power outages also affected several large prisons in the Arkansas Delta, including the Cummins, Varner, Tucker and Tucker Max units. Those facilities were running on generator power Monday evening, according to prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler.
According to Entergy, the violent Easter Sunday storm front caused more power outages in Arkansas than in other states served by the electric company. Entergy reported 37,697 outages in Mississippi, 12,084 in Louisiana and 40 in Texas.
By late Monday afternoon, Entergy Arkansas' website was showing many customers still without power. The most outages were 22,857 in Jefferson County, 10,505 in Hot Spring County, 10,016 in Arkansas County, 8,859 in Ouachita County, 5,953 in Drew County and 5,749 in Phillips County.
The website for Ouachita Electric Cooperative indicated 6,107 of its 10,191 members were experiencing outages late Monday. The cooperative serves electric customers in six counties in southwest Arkansas.
The Easter storm damage comes just weeks after an EF3 tornado slammed into Jonesboro on March 28, injuring 22 people and causing major damage to more than 240 homes. That was followed by an EF2 tornado Thursday that injured three people in Harrisburg and damaged more than 30 homes.
Mayor Smith of Helena-West Helena said some of the city's residents described a tornado when they talked about Sunday's storm.
"We had several reports of tornadoes and evidence on the ground, twisted and mangled trees," said Smith.
Information for this article was contributed by Dale Ellis and John Moritz of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 04/14/2020