Teenager dies as storms rip through state
Atkins toddler hurt; wind damages several buildings
High winds toppled trees Wednesday across the state, killing a Pope County teenager and damaging scores of homes as a cold front moving through collided with unseasonably warm air.
An 18-year-old died and her 18-month-old sister was injured when a tree crashed through the roof of the bedroom they shared in a mobile home in the 3200 block of Arkansas 247 north of Atkins, according to a news release from Pope County Sheriff Shane Jones.
The teen was identified by the sheriff’s office late Wednesday as Michaela Remus. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The toddler, whose identity was not released, was taken to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Russellville. A message left for the hospital spokesman for an update on the child’s condition was not immediately returned.
Area resident Danny Webb said his friend, a firefighter, carried the injured toddler to an ambulance after rescue crews used air bags and jacks to free her from the home’s wreckage.
“He said the baby was crying and crying when he carried her to the ambulance,” Webb said.
Pope County sheriff’s office investigator Eric Riggs
stood sentry Wednesday afternoon in front of yellow caution tape stretched across a dirt road that leads to the mobile home where the teenager was killed.
Vehicles crept along Arkansas 247 as they passed the road, some stopping to ask for updates on the injured toddler.
Some people in trucks, with trailers loaded with chain saws, offered their help.
National Weather Service meteorologist Emilie Nipper in North Little Rock said that although forecasters issued several tornado warnings during the day, no twisters were confirmed in Arkansas.
Initially Wednesday, forecasters were concerned that storms moving through would be much more severe than they ended up being. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., had called for an “enhanced risk” of storms in Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi on Wednesday afternoon and evening.
“We saw a cold, upper-level system move in and hit the warm, moist air over Arkansas,” Nipper said. “It created a lot of thunderstorms.”
The system left the state late Wednesday afternoon. It later spawned a tornado near Clarksdale, Miss.
Nipper said Wednesday’s high temperatures in Mississippi and Tennessee — some reaching into the 70s — helped re-energize the storm system.
At least 5,000 Arkansans were without power at the storm’s peak, said David Lewis, a spokesman for Entergy Arkansas.
The storm roared through Pope County about 7:30 a.m., ripping off roofs, damaging homes, uprooting trees, and scattering debris across fields and yards.
“I was looking out the back door when it hit, and it was blowing hard,” Webb said. “I mean, it was serious for a minute.”
Neighbor Kenneth Ennis said the storm hit so quickly that he and his wife, Wanda, did not have time to reach the concrete storm shelter in their backyard.
He said the storm knocked down numerous trees in his yard, blew out a window in his shop and damaged a dog pen.
“The electricity didn’t even go out though,” he said. “Entergy really came through. They’ve been doing a lot of work on the lines around here so they can withstand the storms.”
Down the road, Ben Wells stood looking at the obstacle course of downed trees leading to the home of his father, Charlie Wells.
“I grew up in that house,” he said, shaking his head. “It crushed every one of his outbuildings.”
The home received minor damage, and a power pole was knocked down.
“I walked into the bathroom this morning, and the light wouldn’t come on,” Charlie Wells said. “The next thing I saw was stuff shooting across the back patio. It was over in a few minutes.”
Across the road, two metal barns containing farm equipment owned by Atkins farmer Matt Hoien were missing tin in places and some lumber was cracked. Sections of the roofs on three chicken houses behind the barns were blown off, and people furiously nailed tin over the gaping holes to keep the nearly 70,000 chickens safely inside.
“The chickens are OK,” Hoien said. “We didn’t have any losses.”
Straight-line winds also damaged several homes and a church in Sharp County, and baseball-size hail fell in eastern Craighead County.
The storm system damaged at least nine homes near Ash Flat and Highland, Sharp County Sheriff Mark Counts said. The storm followed nearly the same path as a 2009 tornado that destroyed scores of homes and businesses in the area, he said.
The sheriff said two homes on Liberty Hill Road were destroyed, and a shop building was heavily damaged. Several roofs were blown off, he said.
One man was treated for minor injuries after he fell off his roof while trying to cover holes to keep the rain out, Counts said.
The weather service issued a tornado warning for Sharp County and surrounding counties at 7:45 a.m. The storm, which officials later said contained straight-line winds, struck about 9:20 a.m.
“I saw the clouds coming in west of Ash Flat at 8:30,”
Counts said. “They didn’t look good. There were a lot of colors in the clouds.”
After the storm, volunteers helped clear roads.
“It’s a bad deal right at Christmastime,” Counts said. “But it was good seeing so many people helping each other out.”
Baseball-size hail pelted Bay in Craighead County on Wednesday afternoon, shattering car windshields and breaking windows in a body shop, Bay Police Chief Paul Keith said.
Although no tornado warnings were issued in that area, the city opened its safe room for residents and sounded its storm siren as a precaution, Keith said.
“It was short, but it was bad,” he said of the storm.
Hail fell in Bono and Lake City in Craighead County, and in southern Greene County.
A tree fell onto a house near Lake City, said Craighead County Office of Emergency Services manager David Moore. There were no injuries reported, he said.
“I’m glad we got out of this one OK,” he said.
Shortly after 2 p.m., the Searcy Police Department reported road closures in the Summerwood Drive area of the Northfield subdivision because of flooding off North Main Street.
Barricades were set up to keep drivers from trying to cross the flooded streets south of North Bypass Road, police said. The road was reopened by 4 p.m. According to authorities, a bicycle trail also was closed.
Nipper said temperatures are expected to reach the upper 60s and low 70s today, and showers are forecast for this evening and Friday. Thunderstorms are likely Christmas Day and through Monday evening, Nipper said.