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.

A cell phone image of flood waters overtaking a billboard outside of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Credit: Kari Livingston

Copyright: Kari Livingston