High Winds Down Trees, Power Lines

Workers from the Bentonville Street Department use chain saws to cut down and clear a tree which broke off and fell into East Central Avenue at 305 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville. Strong wind from a storm ripped through Northwest Arkansas and prompted a tornado watch at 7:40 p.m. by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
Workers from the Bentonville Street Department use chain saws to cut down and clear a tree which broke off and fell into East Central Avenue at 305 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville. Strong wind from a storm ripped through Northwest Arkansas and prompted a tornado watch at 7:40 p.m. by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

Severe weather moved through Northwest Arkansas on Monday night with high winds toppling trees onto houses and downing power lines.

“There’s various reports of tree damage and downed power lines through basically all of Northwest Arkansas,” said Joe Sellers, meteorologist for the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service at 9:20 p.m. Monday.

“Whether it’s concentrated in any one area, I can’t tell you,” Sellers said. “We’ll do storm surveys tomorrow. For now the damage is basically everywhere and ongoing in western, north central Arkansas,” he said.

Robert McGowen, Benton County’s director of emergency management, said Monday night that his office had received reports of trees on four houses in the county: one in Pea Ridge, one in Garfield and two in Bentonville.

Officials also received numerous reports of trees fallen across roads, McGowen said.

“Trees down so far is the biggest problem,” he said.

McGowen said power outages have been reported in Siloam Springs and Pea Ridge, but he had not yet received any reports concerning flooding in the county.

The Rogers Fire Department responded to about 30 calls, Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said. Most calls were about downed electrical lines or natural gas leaks.

Two house fires were reported after the storm on South 19th Street and West Amore Drive, Jenkins said.

Firefighters helped a family pack up to leave at 920 Century Drive after a large tree fell into the house, crushing the rear bedrooms, said a friend of the family. No one was injured.

Sirens in Rogers were activated at about 7:30 p.m., Jenkins said. Additional firefighters had been called in to help with the response.

Three large trees, two of them uprooted, blocked the road near Valley West Drive and Valley West Circle on Monday night. Police pulled loose branches from some streets, but on Valley West Drive a front end loader crushed branches and pushed the logs out of the way.

Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson said there have been reports of downed limbs or trees, but they had not received any reports of injuries.

Several broken windows were reported across Springdale caused by either high winds or flying debris, according to police dispatchers.

Several trees were uprooted in the Farmington area, and penny-sized hail fell in western Washington County, said John Luther, emergency manager for the county.

Electrical outages hit customers throughout the region. Southwestern Electric Power Co. had 3,225 customers without service at 9:30 p.m. Monday, said Peter Main, spokesman.

“The vast majority are in Rogers,” Main said.

A spokesman for Carroll County Electric Cooperative said they had 5,300 customers without service at 10:30 p.m. Monday, most of those in Benton County.

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