Tornadoes strike Little Rock suburbs, central U.S.
Powerful storms kill eight in Ark., one in Okla.
MAYFLOWER, Ark. — State officials say the death toll from a tornado that tore through central Arkansas has grown to eight people.
Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said Sunday night that three of the deaths were in Pulaski County and the fourth was in White County. Beebe’s communications office later tweeted that the toll had risen to eight, with four deaths reported in Faulkner County.
A separate tornado from the same powerful storm system moving through the central and southern United States on Sunday killed one person in northeastern Oklahoma.
The Arkansas tornado touched down about 10 miles west of Little Rock at around 7 p. m. and moved northeastward for at least 30 miles, the National Weather Service reported. It missed the state capital but passed through or near several of its suburbs, causing widespread damage in the communities of Mayflower and Vilonia.
Officials reported that the tornado killed at least one person in White County, said Brandon Morris, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
The tornado, which grew to be a half-mile wide, turned buildings into rubble and stripped the leaves and smaller branches off of trees.
It was one of several tornadoes that touched down Sunday as a large storm system moved through parts of the Plains, Midwest and South.
Less than two hours before earlier, a twister hit the small northeastern Oklahoma community of Quapaw, killing one person and injuring six others, Ottawa County sheriff’s dispatcher Kelli Soechs said.
Ottawa County Emergency Management direc- tor Joe Dan Morgan said Quapaw, which has about 900 residents, was heavily damaged.
After hitting Quapaw, the tornado moved north- A tornado in Mayflower, Ark., killed at least one person and destroyed several homes and businesses. The powerful system rumbled through the central and southern U. S., spawning several tornadoes. ward into Kansas and struck Baxter Springs, about 5 miles away.