Areas of state take it on chin; thousands still in dark after hit by Sunday storms

A tree lies across Clayton Resor’s home Tuesday near the 2700 block of Arkansas 365 in the White Hall area. Resor, 62, was killed when the tree fell during a storm Sunday. More photos at arkansa- sonline.com/415damage/.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)
A tree lies across Clayton Resor’s home Tuesday near the 2700 block of Arkansas 365 in the White Hall area. Resor, 62, was killed when the tree fell during a storm Sunday. More photos at arkansa- sonline.com/415damage/.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)

County Judge Gerald Robinson has been in office in Jefferson County for a little more than a year, and in that time his county has dealt with a major flood, a tornado, the coronavirus pandemic and now a powerful storm that has knocked out power to the majority of the county.

"I am just scratching my head at this point, thinking what is going to happen next," Robinson said Tuesday. "This is just unprecedented."

A line of severe thunderstorms Sunday swept through south and eastern Arkansas, uprooting trees, tearing down power lines and knocking out electricity to more than 128,000 homes, creating what some officials are describing as a crisis.

Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas, compared the widespread power outages in south Arkansas to back-to-back ice storms in December 2000.

It could take several days to repair the damage, but electrical service has been restored to a quarter of the 128,145 customers who were without power Monday, according to Entergy Arkansas. Forty-one distribution substations and 37 transmission lines remained out of service Tuesday morning, according to the company.

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The National Weather Service in North Little Rock has not confirmed that any of the latest damage across state was caused by a tornado. The weather service said most of the damage appeared to be from straight-line winds, but the same storm front spawned tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia.

The death toll from the tornado outbreak rose to at least 34 Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, and lives were lost in at least six states.

One person died in Arkansas when a tree fell on a house north of White Hall, said Karen Blevins, director of the Office of Emergency Management in Jefferson County. Coroner Chad Kelley identified the deceased as Clayton M. Resor, 62, of Redfield.

The Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism said in a news release Tuesday that some trails and areas in the Arkansas State Parks system have been temporarily closed because of downed trees after Sunday's storms.

"We regret having to close more trails and day-use areas in the parks when we have already had to restrict so much due to COVID-19, but we must keep our guests' safety in mind," said Stacy Hurst, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. "Park staff is working to get trails back open as quickly as possible."

Petit Jean State Park, Jenkin's Ferry Battleground State Park, Lake Catherine State Park, DeGray Lake Resort State Park, Delta Heritage Trail State Park and Cane Creek State Park have been closed temporarily.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management will conduct damage assessments across south Arkansas over the next few days, spokeswoman Melody Daniel said. Daniel said there had been several verbal emergency declarations from county officials, but as of Tuesday the department had received no written emergency declarations.

Officials are still surveying damage around Jefferson County, but Robinson said he already knows it's substantial.

"We have over 40 homes damaged, and the debris cleanup is going to be extensive," he said. "We have cleared around 30 roads, and we still got several more that we got to clear."

The county judge said a majority of the cities in Jefferson County still didn't have power Tuesday. Entergy Arkansas reported 20,602 customers without power there Tuesday evening.

"I have sisters who live in Pine Bluff, and they don't have power," Robinson said. "It's just all over Jefferson County, and it might take at least three days before we get power.

Robinson said the next couple of days are going to be tough.

"There are lines of people at service stations to get supplies, and people are losing food because of the power outages," he said. "We also have people who might need shelters because of being displaced."

In Arkansas County, Stuttgart Mayor David Earney said his area received heavy rainfall for two days, and when strong winds moved in, trees began to snap. Three houses were damaged in the storms, Earney said, but most of the problems that the area is dealing with are related to trees fallen on power lines or blocking roads.

"We had a lot of trees come down, and the power lines came down with them," he said.

Entergy Arkansas reported that 6,334 of its customers in Stuttgart and 9,807 customers in Arkansas County were still without power Tuesday evening.

Earney said the storm had shut off power from Stuttgart, to DeWitt, to Gillett in the county. He said Stuttgart and the others aren't expected to have power restored for another three to seven days.

"I know Entergy is working their rear-end off doing 16 hours a day, but there is a lot of work to do and a lot of miles to cover," he said. "We are getting people from all over the state, and I know Louisiana is here, as well."

Earney said homes, restaurants and even gas stations have all been affected by the power outage.

"You can't get gas, and you can't get McDonald's," he said. "So you better hope you have some food in the fridge, but you can't cook it. It's a tough situation."

Earney said several people in Stuttgart have generators, but most don't.

"This is one of those situations that you will never forget," Earney said. "Then on top of that, we have the virus that we got to worry about. I think some people are thinking, 'why is this happening all at one time?' But Stuttgart people, we always find a way back."

A spokesperson for the city of Arkadelphia in Clark County, Keith Beason, said the city is working alongside Entergy to get power restored in his area.

"They have certain things we can't touch, and we have certain things they can't touch, so we have to communicate with each other," he said.

Beason said downed trees damaged homes and blocked several roads. On Monday there were trees down across Arkansas 7, Feaster Trail, Main Street and roads leading to the city's medical district, he said.

"We had our sanitation, police, and Parks and Recreation departments out helping with the cleanup," Beason said. "Me, the mayor and the city manager have also been pulling limbs out of streets."

Most of the damage in Arkadelphia occurred in residential areas, where trees fell on homes and caused roof damage. Also, Beason said one of the city's tornado sirens fell on the SuddenLink building in town.

"It's somewhat operational, but we probably can't use it for a little while," he said. "We still have the one near our fire station downtown."

Steve Fellers, a spokesman for Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, said the storm uprooted two large oak trees in front of the HSU president's home but no damage was done to the structure.

"The nursing building had a few shingles blown off and a pine tree was uprooted in front of the campus, but that is the extent of the damage," Fellers said.

A long road to recovery appears to be on the horizon for much of south Arkansas.

"Frustration is setting in, but we have to handle one day at a time," Robinson said. "It's a confusing time. I wish I had the answers."

photo

A crew of linemen from LineTec Services of Conroe, Texas, works on a damaged power line near Bryant and Jones streets in Pine Bluff on Tuesday morning. More photos at arkansasonline. com/415damage/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)

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This image taken from a drone shows downed trees at The New- berry House on the campus of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. The damage was caused by a line thunderstorms that blew through the area Sunday evening. (Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

Metro on 04/15/2020

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