Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Storms spawn two twisters in state
Tornadoes hit Newton, Madison counties; Benton County sees wind damage
A half-mile-wide tornado with winds reaching 120 mph ripped through Newton County late Monday evening, destroying a post office in Parthenon and damaging several homes and buildings in the area.
A smaller tornado was reported in Madison County, and the Pea Ridge area in Benton County also reported damage to homes from strong winds.
The Newton County twister, rated an EF2, tore off a portion of the Parthenon First Baptist Church and damaged several other buildings in the small community about 25 miles southwest of Harrison. Officials said one person suffered minor injuries.
Winds also destroyed two airplane hangars at a private airstrip along Arkansas 74 between Jasper and Vendor, about 25 miles south of Harrison.
“It’s toast,” Justin Reddell said of the mangled remains of his 1954 Cessna 170- B, parts of which were lodged in a barbed-wire fence by the airstrip. “The other wing was down there in the road.”
The National Weather Service in North Little Rock confirmed the Newton County twister Tuesday after a survey team visited the swath of destruction it left behind. A second tornado, an EF1 twister that struck near the Crosses community in Madison County about 20 miles southeast of Fayetteville, was confirmed Tuesday evening by the National Weather Service in Tulsa.
Twelve tornadoes have been confirmed in Arkansas this year.
Debris scattered, fences fell and shingles littered the
ground Monday night in Pea Ridge on a western path along Slack Street, starting at It’ll Do Road. Damage from the storm included a tree atop a house and a home’s roof missing.
Alex and Jessica Kelly said they couldn’t make out the noise that awakened them. Then their dog started to bark at the police officer knocking at the door to point out the tree on the roof. Tuesday’s daylight revealed limbs through the garage roof, no electricity and water damage from the hole in the roof.
“That tree looked a lot smaller when it was standing,” Jessica Kelly said ruefully.
Benton County escaped widespread damage from Monday night’s storm, said Robert McGowen, the county’s emergency services administrator. Most of the serious damage concentrated in and around Pea Ridge and the Garfield area, he said.
“We’ve got probably a dozen homes damaged in Pea Ridge, mostly with minor damage,” McGowen said.
Straight-line winds caused the damage, McGowen said. He sent photographs to the National Weather Service in Tulsa, but it makes the determination whether to come and take a look, he said.
Jay Frasier, the county’s public services administrator and head of the Road Department, said county crews will spend several days clearing downed trees along Wiseman Road in the Hiwasse area.
“It appears it was straightline winds, but it took down all of the bigger trees,” he said. “We’re talking big trees, probably 80 or 90-year-old trees.”
A dugout roof left the Blackjack Corner baseball field and the cable holding the net behind home plate snapped, said Matt Easterling, Pea Ridge High School assistant baseball coach.
Police Chief Ryan Walker cited multiple reports of trees on houses. School District Superintendent Rick Neal said a tree fell on the back side of the Professional Development Center and the roof was damaged on the gym behind the Intermediate School.
Volunteers and postal employees sifted through debris Tuesday morning in Parthenon, picking up letters and files that were strewn in a nearby field. Wood, concrete and metal fragments were piled on a lot and hauled away by crews.
“The U. S. post office is completely destroyed,” said Dennis Cavenaugh, warning coordinator for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. “It’s the most sobering thing we’ve seen. It wiped it off the foundation.”
The building “kind of did a flip,” according to one postal employee from a neighboring town who was in Parthenon on Tuesday.
Arkansas’ storms formed on the southern edge of a long series of systems that stretched from central Oklahoma north to the Great Lakes, creating a line of destruction through the Midwest overnight Monday.
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said at least 19 tornadoes were reported in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas in addition to the two in Arkansas.
More than 450 homes and businesses were damaged in Oak Grove, Mo., after a tornado with winds reaching 152 mph roared through the Kansas City, Mo., suburb. The Associated Press reported 12 people were injured in the storm. Twisters also formed in Lee’s Summit, Mack’s Creek and Wentzville, Mo.
Tornado warnings were issued for Newton, Madison and Faulkner counties Monday evening, said meteorologist Charles Dalton with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. Teams also were surveying damage just across the Arkansas border in eastern Oklahoma, according to meteorologist Amy Jankowski with the National Weather Service in Tulsa.
“This is typical of an early spring-type system,” she said. “We’ve had a mild winter and some warm temperatures now. The weather can’t decide what it should do.”
Jankowski said trees were toppled in Eureka Springs and Crosses as winds reached 95 mph. Quarter-sized hail also fell in rural Madison County.
Two homes were damaged in Searcy County, said Whitney Green, a spokesman with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.