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Strong storms cut through parts of Arkansas early Sunday, including a tornado in Logan County.
The tornado was confirmed by radar between 1 and 1:30 a.m. near Scranton, according to a tweet by the National Weather Service in Little Rock. Chicken houses were destroyed, barns were damaged, and trees fell on houses and cars, the weather service reported.
There have been no reports of injuries from the storm, according to a Facebook post by Logan County Emergency Management.
With estimated winds of 120 mph, this was categorized as an EF2 tornado, according to a preliminary report provided by the National Weather Service in Little Rock.
The report said the tornado touched down near Prairie Mountain southwest of Fox Road before spanning more than 5 miles in five minutes.
The tornado continued northeast, crossing Arkansas 288, removing roofing material from a house and damaging chicken houses, according to the report.
“The tornado crossed [Arkansas] 109 and Hillcrest Lane…uprooting trees, removing the roofing material off of an outbuilding and completely flattening another,” the preliminary report said. “The tornado continued northeast crossing Stoney Point Road, Weiterer Road, Grenwelge Lane, to the intersection of Dublin Road and [Arkansas] 197 at Dublin.”
“There were homes with roof damage and several poultry farms with roofs damaged,” the post stated, adding that there were many downed power poles and lines.
The storm left thousands without power, according to the website PowerOutage.us. As of 5 p.m. Sunday, about 8,800 customers in the River Valley still lacked power, including 3,284 in Sebastian County and 2,318 in Logan County, the website reported. Nearly 50,000 people statewide were without power.
By 8 p.m., only two customers were without power in Logan County, with 2,321 customers without power in Sebastian County and an estimated 22,867 customers without power statewide, according to PowerOutage.us and Entergy.com.
A separate storm moved across Oklahoma and into Northwest Arkansas early Sunday, with the weather service reporting wind gusts of 70-80 mph. It mainly affected Benton County, starting about 1:30 a.m.
— Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and NWA Democrat-Gazette
1:24 p.m.: Logan County may have been struck by tornado
Logan County might have seen a tornado early Sunday morning, the National Weather Service said.
“This morning around 1 a.m., Logan County was hit by a severe thunderstorm that produced straight line winds and a possible tornado starting around the Subiaco area tracking through Prairie View,” the Logan County Emergency Management office said on Facebook just after noon on Sunday.
Tobi Miller, the Logan County Emergency Manager, said, if it was a tornado, it did not have a very long path.
Joe Goudsward, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said the tornado warning was put out by the midnight crew around 1:15 a.m.
A tornado warning for parts of Arkansas including Lamar, Dover and London was issued by the National Weather Service on Twitter at 1:10 a.m. The warning was in effect until 1:45 a.m.
Goudsward said Logan County had the best chance of seeing circulation.
“We’ve received reports from the emergency manager about trees and power lines being down, along with damage to chicken houses and roofs, possibly barns,” Goudsward said Sunday morning.
Miller said there were chickens inside the chicken houses.
She also said around 3,000 people in the county were without power.
“The electric companies are working as hard as they can to restore power,” Miller said.
“With damage from a possible tornado early this morning in Logan Co. around Prairie View and south of Scranton, local officials are urging folks to avoid the area due to downed trees and power lines, especially along AR Hwy 109,” a tweet from the weather service said just after 3 a.m.
Miller said residents mainly stopping to look at the damage should stay out of the way so that officials can work to clear debris.
Goudward said a survey team had been dispatched around 9 a.m. on Sunday to evaluate the damage and confirm the tornado, as well as determine how strong it was.
— Remington Miller
