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A severe storm system moved through central Arkansas Thursday night, with a series of tornadoes damaging homes and buildings and knocking out power to thousands of customers. Power is slowly being restored, after numerous storms left a path of downed trees, snapped utility poles and damaged homes and businesses. Click here for latest details of power outages.
The tornado responsible for major damage in Central Arkansas was confirmed as an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with wind speeds of 111-135 mph.
On Interstate 30, traffic is moving again in southwest Little Rock. Flood waters have receded that did cover a stretch of Interstate 30 this morning forcing officials to route traffic onto Arkansas Highway 5.
State Police report one person died this morning on Interstate 30 in Clark County in a crash that appears to have been related to heavy rain that was falling.
The tornado that ripped through Saline County hit several neighborhoods. There is one confirmed injury at Hurricane Creek Mobile Home Park, there is one confirmed injury and a dozen mobile homes were destroyed. Benton Police Captain Roger Gaither says that in all, 70 trailers at the Park suffered some sort of damage.
A number of homes have also been damaged at Hurricane Meadows with one confirmed injury. Around twenty homes have been damaged at the Crossroads at Turtle Creek.
Extensive damage was reported at the nearby Everett car dealership in Bryant, where a salesman said the inventory of used cars was particularly badly hit. Adjacent to the dealership, a command center was set up at the Bryant Target parking lot and another at the Long Hills Country Club in Benton.
Timothy Korejko of Benton said the roof of his home - close to Highway 70 - was torn off by a tornado while his parents took shelter in the hallway.
In Hot Springs, people were rescued after flood waters trapped them in their pickup truck. The trio says that the Hot Springs Fire Department Water Rescue Team arrived just as they were about to take their chances in the currents of Gulpha Creek. This was one of a number of rescues around Saline and Garland counties after four hours of continuous rainfall which caused downtown Hot Springs to be severely flooded. Waters have begun receding and cleanup will start at daylight.
Pulaski County officials said Friday morning trees were down and there was flooding at Gravel Ridge in the North Little Rock area.
In the Cammack Village area of Little Rock, near the Arkansas River, residents were walking their dogs Friday morning and looking
at the damage.
Steve Bauman, 55, said he and his wife hid in an interior bathroom of their house after a tornado siren sounded for the second time Thursday night.
"We felt the house shaking so we figured it hit on the back of the house," Bauman said. The high winds lopped off the top of a pine tree in the Baumans' back yard, and a limb pierced the cathedral ceiling of their bedroom. Bauman said slept to the sound of water dripping into a pot he placed under the hole.
Neighbor Jeff Melville, 45, said his front door began to shake as the storm passed.
"I didn't move fast enough, I should have been (away from) there five minutes earlier," Melville said while his dog Daisy dog sniffed at fresh pine needles blown down the night before. "I grabbed her, touched the front doorway and ran to the hallway," he said. Melville's home suffered shingle damage, though downed limbs lay scattered in the neighborhood's small park.
Gregory Greene, 39, watched as the tornado passed through part of Little Rock. "I thought I was going to die," Greene said. "I saw debris flying around in a circle when I was about to go in and pick up my girlfriend from work," Greene said outside an Andy's Restaurant.
"Stuff was going around in circles. "About that time, it pushed her up against the building and knocked me down and pushed me under that truck," Greene said.
While he was under the truck, the storm flipped a car in the next parking space. His right elbow was rubbed raw.
At the North Little Rock Airport, the storm passed directly over the local office of the National Weather Service (web|news) . A single-engine
Cessna lay on its nose propellor against a fuel truck near the runway Friday morning. The winds also tore into one metal-sided hangar and cut across the runway heading northeast.
After hitting Little Rock, the storm moved into the city's northeastern suburbs. Trees and power lines were reported down in Jacksonville and Cabot.
The storm contributed to traffic accidents when it passed through the metropolitan area of about 500,000 people. A number of shelters were set up at churches in the region.
Thursday night in Cammack Village, a community of 1,000 surrounded by northwest Little Rock, police and firefighters went door-to-door to check on residents.
As early as last weekend, forecasters had warned of a severe weather outbreak Thursday night.
Over the past two months, parts of Arkansas have endured an EF4 tornado during a storm outbreak that killed 13, a foot of snow,
upward of a foot of rain and near-record flooding.
Stay tuned to Channel 7 throughout Friday for the latest on the storm, and the recovery efforts.
Please share with us your photos or videos of the storm and storm damage. Selected pictures and videos may be included in our website photo gallery or used on air. Click here to send your photos or videos to KATV
Click here to visit our Flooding Disaster Help section which has useful numbers and web links for those affected by the floods.
Associated Press Writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this report from Cammack Village, Ark.
(Portions Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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