Meteorologists report 2 tornadoes in Arkansas; 1 killed in storms

Debris is shown near the Walmart Amp in Rogers. Strong storms have caused power outages, road closures and one fatality according to the National Weather Service.
Debris is shown near the Walmart Amp in Rogers. Strong storms have caused power outages, road closures and one fatality according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists believe a tornado touched down Monday morning in northeast Arkansas, injuring at least two people as part of a storm system that killed one in the northwest part of the state. A survey team from the weather service in Tulsa reported that they had found tornado damage in the Siloam Springs area.

A survey team from the National Weather Service in Memphis reported the preliminary EF1 tornado in Tyronza, which City Clerk Donna Wood said tore across a portion of the Poinsett County town shortly before 6 a.m.

Two people were hurt when a service station was nearly “leveled” by storms shortly before 6 a.m., Poinsett County Sheriff Kevin Molder said. The sheriff said he didn’t immediately know the individuals' conditions.

In Benton County, a man died after a tree fell on his Pleasant Ridge home at about 12:30 a.m., Rogers Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said.

Jenkins said his department had over 100 weather-related calls following the storm, including reports of natural gas leaks, downed power lines and trees.

In Siloam Springs, several subdivisions were severely damaged, and a tractor-trailer was blown over at the intersection of Arkansas 59 and U.S. 412, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Tulsa said.

The weather service's Tulsa bureau said it had dispatched a team to Arkansas to survey Benton County, and meteorologist David Jankowski said a survey team found tornado damage. The team didn’t have any additional details on what type of tornado it was and how far it traveled.

“Hopefully we will have additional information soon,” Jankowski said.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson posted on Twitter about the "significant storm damage," confirming that one person was killed. The state Department of Emergency Management is "monitoring and supporting local first responders," he wrote.

A power outage occurred at the Northwest Arkansas regional airport, said Chief Operating Officer Kelly Johnson. Generators were being used at the terminal, and airlines were noting boarding passes manually.

“We’re limping along,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, roads into the airport from the south were blocked by downed trees and power lines at about 9 a.m. She advised travelers to have their boarding passes printed at home or have them loaded on a cellphone.

Black Hills Energy reported 65 customers without service shortly before 9 a.m. Repairs are likely to take most of the day due to the difficulty of reaching areas with downed trees and power lines, the utility said in a news release.

In Tyronza, the East Poinsett County School District cancelled classes after a school building was “heavily damaged,” according to Molder. The town also reported several trees had fallen on houses and power lines had been downed, though officials were still assessing the extent of the damage.

“Other than that, we’re here,” said Donna Wood, Tyronza city clerk.

Molder said a large number of personnel were in Tyronza on Monday to clean up damage from the storms. He asked people not to “come in and sightsee” as crews try to access the scenes where the greatest damage occurred.

“It hinders our ability to help when we can’t get in,” he said.

Roughly 2,500 Entergy customers were without power shortly before 2 p.m., according to a map on the utility's website.

The storms moved east through the night, and by 7:30 a.m., the National Weather Service in North Little Rock had canceled all of its tornado watches.

Dylan Cooper, a meteorologist at the North Little Rock office, said he expects wind damage was the main issue.

Cooper said the storm was moving eastward more quickly than forecasters previously predicted.

“Probably the quicker we get it out of here, the better,” he said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story used an incorrect pronoun to refer to Kelly Johnson. Johnson is a woman.

This story was originally published at 5:58 a.m. Reporter Stephen Simpson and the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette contributed to this story.

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