Channel 7 News | The Longest Tornado Track in Arkansas History

Billy's Newstar Adventures

Saturday February 09, 2008 at 8:48 pm

The Longest Tornado Track in Arkansas History

Tuesday evening as you know was one of the worst tornado outbreaks we have seen in a long time. I headed up to Clinton Tuesday night after being at the Hillary Clinton watch party at Cornerstone Grill in North Little Rock. I arrived in Clinton around 8:45. I drive through Clinton all the time headed north, and it was unrecognizable. It was dark and the only noise you could hear were police sirens and chain saws. We did our live shot Tuesday night from the Wal-Mart parking lot since that was the command post for emergency personnel. After the 10:00 live shot, we headed out searching for a location to do Daybreak the next morning and with it being dark, we could not see much, just downed trees and what was lit up with generator powered lights. We ended up going live from the boat factory in Clinton which was totally destroyed by the tornado. When the sun came up, the view of the devastation was unreal. I have seen a lot of tornado damage and even went through one on March 1, 1997, and every time I see damage like this, it still completely blows my mind on the power these storms have. Power poles snapped like toothpicks, some trees uprooted, others completely blown away, yet, some in the middle of it all still stand like nothing ever happened. Cars picked up, thrown and crushed like soda cans. I had an opportunity to talk to a few people, and amazingly, they were all in very good spirits and smiling because they nor anyone they knew were hurt. They all told me the same thing, you can replace "things", not people. I then headed up to Mountain View. On the drive up, I crossed the damage path four times between Clinton and Mountain View. Some houses barely touched, some totally destroyed. At one point, the damage path was about a mile wide. We went live Thursday for 5, 6, and 10 from the Hospital in Mountain View. There, the same story. I know many communities were devastated by this tornado. I say this tornado, because it was the same tornado in fact that hit Atkins, Clinton, and Mountain View. You can go to Todd's Weather Blog to get more info on this massive storm. I have posted pictures below of my vantage point of the damage. I know there is much more damage than I can possibly depict here, but everyone affected by these storms are in my thoughts and prayers.

-B

This picture is in Mountain View across the street from the Hospital.

This shows the power behind the winds. This is the wall of the Hospital in Mountain View, and that is a piece of wood stabbing the exterior wall.

If you look closely, the very center of the picture is where the Tornado came over the hill. The time it took it to travel from that point on the hill to where I am standing was between 30 and 45 seconds.

This picture I had to take. Even in times of complete devastation, some people still have a great sense of humor. This truck actually came from the dealership across the street about 200 feet away. It is (or was) a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado.

posted by Billy Cannon