Clark County OEM: Radar-indicated rotation spurs Tornado Warning

Arkadelphia got a scare late Friday as the National Weather Service in Little Rock issued a last-minute Tornado Warning for Clark County.

Tornado sirens rang out soon after the NWS issued its warning and continued for roughly half an hour. Although radar indicated rotation, there was no confirmation of a tornado, said Tate Chanler, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management.

“That means there was rotation on the radar, but there were no reports of anything on the ground or any damage,” Chanler said.

The thunderstorm brought along hail and spurts of heavy winds and rain. The Tornado Warning was issued at 10 p.m. and was set to expire at 10:45 p.m. Tornado sirens were still going 10 minutes before the warning was set to expire.

Shortly after 11 p.m. South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative reported about 2,000 customers were without power. Affected substations were Richwoods and Hope East. There were about 300 Entergy customers without power in Arkadelphia at 11:30 p.m. Friday, with regional outages reported in Friendship, Bismarck and Gurdon.

Before midnight, volunteer firefighters in East Clark County and Caddo Valley were dispatched to clear roadways of fallen trees, and Gum Springs firefighters were called to the intersection of South 3rd Street and Copeland Ridge Road for a report of a utility pole on fire.

Fifteen minutes after midnight Saturday, the East Clark County Fire Department was called to a report of several trees down on Bryant Drive in Joan.