LITTLE ROCK — A storm with straight-line winds reaching at least 63 miles per hour pushed through central Arkansas on Sunday evening, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock said.
In Little Rock, the strong winds knocked down trees and power lines across town and caused damage to CenterPoint Energy at 2205 E. Roosevelt Road, Little Rock Fire Department spokesman Edwin Woolf said.
Alicia Dixon, a CenterPoint spokesman, said most of a roof from a building next door had been lifted up by the winds and landed on CenterPoint’s fence and property. She said no damage had been done to the company’s building or any of their gas lines.
The storm also caused a rotted-out oak tree to crash onto the fence of the Governor’s Mansion on West 18th and South Spring streets, Woolf said. The tree lay across Spring Street, blocking traffic while crews tried to assess the situation. The tree uprooted a sidewalk and broke a light pole before coming to a rest on the metal and brick fence.
By the time the storm passed early Sunday evening, there were more than 13,000 people in Pulaski and Saline counties left without power, Entergy Arkansas reported. Another 1,765 people in Drew County were without power at the same time.
By 8:30 p.m., the number of people without power in Pulaski County had fallen to about 7,500, and Saline County had about 600 people without power.
As the storm moved east, about 2,250 people in Jefferson County were without power at 9 p.m.
Entergy Arkansas spokesman Dan Daugherty said the company would try to have power restored to everyone today.
Woolf said the extent of the damage in Little Rock could be attributed to fallen trees and downed power lines. He said no injuries were reported as a result of Sunday’s storm.
At 7307 Denise Drive in southwest Little Rock, part of a tree split off its trunk and landed on the roof of a house. The tree was perched against the house but didn’t appear to cause major damage.
Live power lines fell onto a car on South University Avenue after winds knocked them down, Woolf said. The lines were removed from the car, and no injuries were reported.
John Lewis, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said as temperatures rose and the air became humid the “atmosphere destabilized” causing golf-ball-sized hail and strong winds.
He said it would be today before officials could assess the damage and determine whether a tornado had struck.
“If there was one, it was very brief,” Lewis said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 10/25/2010