Little Rock Tornadoes Just the Latest Weather Blow for Arkansans

Little Rock, Arkansas -- For the second time in two months, Arkansas was hammered by severe weather that included tornadoes followed by flash floods. As a life-long resident of Arkansas, I am seldom taken by surprise by severe weather in the spring, but the latest round of severe storms have hit many of the same areas repeatedly and is beginning to take its toll on many Arkansas residents.

The weather forecast had stated that there was a possibility of severe weather from early evening into the nighttime hours. The first reports of possible rotation came around 8:30 p.m. with Doppler radar picking up a classic hook echo signal that often indicates a tornado on the ground. Within 15 minutes, damage reports started trickling in. A car dealership was hit hard and several neighborhoods in Benton and Bryant, two Little Rock suburbs, had also been damaged. The storm continued to track northward to the Little Rock metropolitan area. While Little Rock was dealing with tornadoes, other areas of the state were placed under tornado warnings, including the Hot Springs and the surrounding area and Faulkner County, which is also part of the Little Rock Metropolitan area. I live in Greenbrier, which is in northern Faulkner County

The Faulkner County tornado warning was issued after damage reports were coming in from the Little Rock twister. Tornado warnings are often issued based on Doppler readings. Many tornado warnings never produce a tornado, so it is easy to get complacent when warnings are issued, but after seeing some of the damage in Little Rock, and with the memory of the death and destruction caused by the February tornadoes to our north in Clinton, I knew that this was one time to take the warning seriously.

Last night's storms were particularly dangerous because they happened at night and were rain-wrapped, which made them difficult to hear as they approached and impossible to see. Our power went out, which cut us off from any information about the approaching storm. We had to rely on a battery operated TV with poor reception and public weather sirens.

When the weather sirens sounded, my family and I took our tornado precautions. We huddled in the bathroom, surrounded by thick pillows and heavy comforters, ready to drop flat and cover our heads should a tornado take a path near our home. We could hear the roar of the wind and the pounding of hail on our roof over the sirens. The house was completely dark and we were locked in a small, windowless room. All in all, it made for a nerve-wracking night. We were lucky, and while we received damage from heavy rain and some strong straight-line winds, we emerged remarkably unscathed.

The rest of the state hasn't been so lucky. Little Rock is the business heart of Arkansas, and many people from the surrounding cities, including Greenbrier, Bryant, Benton and Conway, commute into the city for work. Trees are down across the central part of the state. Power lines are also down. Many streets, including Interstate 30, are impassible due to high water. Many people, including my own family members, have had to rearrange work plans because it is impossible to get into many areas of Little Rock.

Greenbrier is sandwiched between Clinton, which was devastated by the February tornado, and Little Rock, which was battered last night. Even without a confirmed twister within our city limits, we have damage caused by not just tornadoes and high wind, but massive amounts of rainfall on ground that was already saturated. In an area that has received record snows in March, record rains, multiple tornadoes and widespread flooding, fatigue and frustration are beginning to take their toll.