Daytime storms leave damage in 2 counties

Several waves of severe thunderstorms raked Arkansas on Monday, bringing high winds that damaged buildings in at least two communities — Jessieville in Garland County and Norphlet in Union County. Two injuries were reported.

More storms were on the way and expected to pass through Central Arkansas about midnight, said John Lewis, senior forecaster for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.

Flooding was also a problem in some areas on Monday.

“Through 8 pm CST…the heaviest rain extended from central into northeast Arkansas. This is where 2 to over 4 inches of rain fell,” the weather service said in a message on Twitter. “Roads were under water at Hoxie and Walnut Ridge (Lawrence Co). Vehicles were stalled in the water, and an apartment complex was flooded.”

Lewis said it could have been a tornado that hit Jessieville, and similar damage was reported at Norphlet. Whether they were tornadoes, and how severe, will be determined later.

Bruce Goff, the emergency management coordinator in Union County, said a suspected tornado damaged a dozen homes on Shady Grove Road, about 4 miles west of Norphlet, about noon on Monday.

“An off-duty police officer saw the funnel cloud behind his residence,” said Goff. “It probably stayed down between a quarter and a half a mile before it lifted back up.”

Goff said most of the damage involved roofs and vinyl siding. He said the tornado destroyed one metal workshop and pitched an unoccupied wood-frame house askew on its brick foundation.

Goff said there were no injuries reported in Union County.

The Garland County sheriff’s office reported that four homes were damaged in the Jessieville area — one severely — when the storm moved through Monday afternoon. Jessieville is about 18 miles north of Hot Springs.

Students in Jessieville were back in school Monday for the first day after winter break. Garland County Sheriff Mike McCormick said the school “took the brunt” of the damage.

Superintendent Melissa Speers said all the students were safe although two staff members had minor injuries.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the Jessieville area at 2:44 p.m. Monday.

Speers said she had begun monitoring the situation around noon.

“Around lunchtime, I turned the TV in my office on so I could start monitoring the weather, watching the news, see if there was anything,” she said. “I was keeping an eye on it. About 2:45 p.m. some of the ladies in my office — between 2:30, 2:45 p.m. — ‘Our flagpole is really (moving),’ and so we were looking at that … and just out of the blue, high winds, awnings began to blow away, the flagpole blows over and students and staff began moving to the safe room. We didn’t have any prior warning.”

Speers said she wanted to give her staff credit.

“My staff stepped up,” she said. “They did what we’ve been trained to do. They did what they know to do, and they protected our students. We had no students hurt. We were able to get our students to the safe room. All of our students have made it home safely tonight.”

Speers said the school will not be open today due to a damage assessment.

McCormick said the safe room at Jessieville school “worked out really well” and probably saved a lot of lives, keeping the students and others safe.

He said National Park Service, Hot Springs Village personnel and others all helped, noting, “Basically every agency in that area were involved. We had really good cooperation from everyone.”

McCormick said damage from the storm seemed to be concentrated and was pretty much contained to the 8000 block of Arkansas 7 north.

Entergy Arkansas, the Arkansas State Police, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and fire departments from Jessieville, Fountain Lake and Buckville were also all helping at the scene, said Deputy Courtney Kizer, spokeswoman for the Garland County sheriff’s office.

About 5 p.m., Kizer reported that Arkansas 7 had been reopened after being closed due to power lines down in the area around the school.