Entergy: Hundreds of lines askew

LR mom recounts close call as tree crashed down on family

Wil Smith examines the detached garage at his home on North Garfield Road in Little Rock after the structure was crushed by a tree during Thursday night’s storms.
Wil Smith examines the detached garage at his home on North Garfield Road in Little Rock after the structure was crushed by a tree during Thursday night’s storms.

Little Rock resident Angela Hunt spent Friday counting her blessings.

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Lindy Streit (left) talks with electrician Andy West of Arkansas Electric Service and Contracting on Friday afternoon about repairing her mother’s home on McCain Boulevard in North Little Rock after a tree fell on the structure during Thursday night’s storms.

As she moved her belongings from her demolished apartment, she recounted Thursday's violent weather that toppled a large oak and pulverized the walls and ceilings that once sheltered her family.

"My little one, he's 5, he started hollering and screaming and crying. I went into the bedroom and half of the ceiling was down," Hunt said. She rushed her two sons out of the bedroom moments before the rest of the ceiling gave way to the large oak, crashing debris on the spot where her boys were standing just seconds before. Then the rain poured in.

Thursday's storm brought 70 mph winds to central Arkansas, snapping several utility poles and uprooting trees as if they were saplings. Entergy Arkansas counted over 600 cases of damaged poles, downed electricity lines or lightning-fried transformers by Friday after surveying just half of their service area.

Power failures across the state peaked at 137,000 -- or 20 percent of Entergy Arkansas' market -- Thursday night, and were reduced to approximately 50,000 by Friday evening.

Many Entergy Arkansas customers in Hot Springs, Arkadelphia and rural areas of Pulaski County, however, will be without power until Tuesday due to the numerous trees fallen across power lines, according to a company announcement. The announcement prompted Little Rock to open two cooling centers this weekend at the Dunbar Community Center and the Southwest Community Center.

The company expects other areas without power to be restored by Sunday.

As they worked to restore power, the harsh weather continued Friday.

Little Rock firefighters were called to the area of 600 McLean St. on Friday evening and found a silver sedan sitting in 3 feet of water, said the department's Capt. Jason Weaver. He said firefighters did not find anyone in the vehicle.

Heavy rain flooded intersections in parts of Pulaski County, with 3.15 inches of rain falling at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field as of Friday evening, said Jeff Hood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.

The bulk of the rainfall occurred within a two-hour period Friday evening. Hood said such heavy rainfall can cause small ditches and creeks to become overwhelmed and rise to dangerous levels, especially in a county with a significant amount of concrete.

Even Little Rock City Hall wasn't spared. Mayor Mark Stodola wrote on Twitter: "What do you know? High winds have blown out the window of the Mayor's office!"

Power failures

It's the fourth-largest power failure Entergy has recorded in the state since the turn of the century. In 2008, 179,000 customers were without power after Hurricane Ike, and in 2012 191,000 customers were left in the dark after a Christmas snowstorm, according to data submitted to the Public Service Commission.

The state's highest reported power failure was in 2000 after two back-to-back ice storms took out power for 226,000 customers, the company said. Complete power restoration took seven days.

On Friday, 800 line workers repaired infrastructure throughout the day. Entergy called on "sister utility companies" from across the South and Midwest to send an additional 1,200 workers to assist, said spokesman Julie Munsell. As of Friday night, workers were travelling from as far as Ohio.

"We're hopeful that we'll be able to speed up our restoration process with these additional resources," Munsell said. "We want everyone to know that because of this widespread damage and the extent of this damage, it's going to take a while to clean up. But customers will continue to come back online."

Thursday's storms tracked eastward across the state generally along Interstate 40 and raked central and south central Arkansas with heavy rain, sporadic hail and threatening funnel clouds, said a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Along the storm system's course, a smattering of blown-off roofs and homes damaged by tree limbs were reported to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

No injuries were reported in any part of the state, but Hunt's upstairs neighbors may have experienced the closest call.

A 15 year-old girl was taking shelter in her bedroom closet when the oak tree fell into her Briarwood Apartment unit. While on the phone with her mother, she opened the closet door to the outdoors, Hunt said.

Around the state

In Garland County, a tree struck a car, trapping three people inside, said Tony Breshears, the county road commissioner. It took about an hour for Entergy to get to them because there were so many trees down, Breshears said.

"There were about a dozen poles that snapped in half at Brady Mountain where it leads up to the resort," he said. "The storm tracks the lake and it definitely did that. There were trees all over the county down."

About a half dozen poles split in half on Oak Grove Road. Breshears said Entergy worked throughout the night to repair damage and restore power.

In Pine Bluff, eight streets were closed due to downed trees and power lines, according to the city's public information officer.

In South Arkansas, winds reached 75 mph, damaging some buildings in Monticello.

Storms damaged roofs to three downtown Monticello businesses around the courthouse square, including the offices of Drew County Attorney C.C. "Cliff" Gibson.

"The wind was not like anything I've ever seen before. Large trees were swaying back and forth." said Sandra Crowell, an administrative assistant to Drew County Judge Robert Akin, who helped clear trees from roadways until 1 a.m. Friday.

El Dorado reported winds of 45 to 50 mph, said National Weather Service meteorologist Travis Washington of Shreveport. Large trees snapped on the western side of the town, he said.

Prescott in Nevada County saw winds of 50 to 60 mph, and a trained weather spotter in De Queen recorded winds of 70 mph.

Information for this article was provided by Becky Bell, Kenneth Heard and Ryan Tarinelli of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 07/16/2016

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