Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Officials eye warning systems as cleanup goes on after storms
BELLA VISTA — Officials in Siloam Springs and Rogers were eyeing flaws in their emergency warning systems Wednesday in the aftermath of deadly storms.
Also Wednesday, the National Weather Service confirmed a second tornado in Benton County traveled 31 miles with wind of up to 110 mph. A Benton County man died early Monday after a tree fell on his house, authorities said.
A sinkhole opened in the middle of a busy Bella Vista street Wednesday, causing morning traffic delays, according to state and local officials. The street was reported as open by mid-afternoon.
Siloam Springs officials apologized Wednesday for delaying the activation of the city’s storm sirens early Monday, according to a post on the city’s website.
“It is now clear that we failed the residents of Siloam Springs by not sounding the sirens earlier,” reads a statement attributed to City Administrator Phillip Patterson.
“We did not have the right people in the right place at
the right time to make the correct decision. It is my promise to the residents of Siloam Springs that this will not happen again,” the statement reads.
“We are extremely grateful that no major injuries occurred,” Patterson said.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the area at 12:02 a.m. and a severe thunderstorm warning at 12:04 a.m., according to the city’s website.
The nearly 3,000 residents who signed up with Code Red received notice within seconds of the official warnings. The outdoor warning system was activated at 12:13 a.m. The city’s estimated population for 2018 was 15,038, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Patterson’s statement adds the city is working to repair two, nonfunctioning sirens. They are older pieces of equipment and obtaining parts has become a challenge. They will be fixed as quickly as possible, Patterson wrote.
On Tuesday, Rogers’ City Council approved spending more than $405,000 on an updated storm warning system. Police Chief Hayes Minor said the 20-year-old system malfunctioned during Sunday night’s storm. The sirens went off, but residents in some neighborhoods were unable to hear them.
Minor said the sirens are meant to be an outdoor warning system, and residents should keep phones near to receive alerts from the National Weather Service and other agencies while indoors. The new system should be in place in about 90 days, he said.
Sunday night’s tornadoes produced wind exceeding 100 mph, according to Pete Snyder, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Tulsa, Okla.
Snyder said the first tornado began in Adair County in northeast Oklahoma and tracked about 9.1 miles to the Siloam Springs area. That tornado recorded wind between 90 and 100 mph.
The second storm started in the Siloam Springs area and traveled about 31 miles across Benton County to the area southeast of Avoca, he said. That storm produced wind 100-110 mph wind.
Snyder said another weather front was expected in Northwest Arkansas as soon as Wednesday night and should bring cooler temperatures and 2 to 3 inches of rain spread over the next few days. He said some thunderstorms may occur, but no other severe weather is expected.
The Bella Vista sinkhole formed on Lancashire Boulevard, also known as Arkansas 340, just east of its intersection with Dogwood Drive, according to the Arkansas Department of Transportation’s Twitter feed.
Bella Vista police officers directed traffic around the hole Wednesday morning. Mayor Peter Christie was at the scene early Wednesday and said the 3-foot deep hole was caused from rainwater washing underneath, not across, the road.
“I suppose you could call it a sinkhole, even though most people think of sinkholes big enough to swallow houses,” Christie said Wednesday afternoon.
Christie said the area has experienced frequent flooding in the past from Tanyard Creek, and a bridge over the
creek is scheduled to be replaced in 2020. He said the sinkhole should be repaired as a temporary fix and the road rebuilt as part of the bridge replacement project next spring.
The Transportation Department reported the road open by mid-afternoon.
Electric utilities continued work Wednesday to restore power to some customers, but spokesmen said some people may be without power into the weekend.
Nancy Plagge with Carroll Electric Cooperative said the utility reported about 19,800 outages at the peak of the storm. The number was 3,961 on Wednesday afternoon. Plagge said the utility would normally have about 100 people working, but brought in about 250 more workers for the emergency.
She said the utility has completed its damage assessment and counted more than 300 power poles to be replaced. She said the work is done on a priority system beginning at substations, working through main feeder lines and down to individual outages.
“We start with the lines that are going to get the most people back on line,”
A Southwestern Electric Power Co. spokesman said the utility had about 879 outages remaining Wednesday afternoon. The company estimated 95 percent of its customers will have power by 9 p.m. Friday.