Early morning thunderstorms Sunday led to some power outages, downed trees and building damage in the Little Rock area.
The National Weather Service in North Little Rock received several reports of downed trees from sporadic high winds, meteorologist Dylan Cooper said. The agency's office near the municipal airport measured winds of 43 mph, but wind gusts could have been 60-70 mph in pockets with this squall line-type storm system, he said.
Pastor William Holloway said it must of have taken straight-line winds of at least 100 mph to blow three 5- to 7-ton air conditioners out of place and send them tumbling across the roof of the Little Rock Compassion Center.
The storm winds also busted windows and tore awnings down of the facility at 4210 Asher Ave. The center's air conditioning and electricity were still out Sunday afternoon, but Holloway said they're still cooking meals for those experiencing homelessness with the help of portable generators.
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Holloway said a staff member was trapped inside its housing near the center when a 4-foot thick oak fell around 1 a.m. right in front of the door.
"It's kind of funny because it hit on one side of the street and didn't hit on the other side," Holloway said.
The winds on Asher Avenue also blew off the roof to an Arkansas Department of Corrections facility.
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North Little Rock Electric reported widespread outages from the storm, though nearly all were repaired by Sunday afternoon. An Entergy outage map showed an estimated 200 customers affected, mainly south of Interstate 630.
Cooper said isolated and scattered thunderstorms are possible through Tuesday mainly in the northern and eastern part of the state, though there's a 20-30% chance for most of the state.
Arkansas will have a day or two to dry out before another system rolls in late in the week bringing possible showers and storms, he said. It's a pretty typical summer-time pattern, Cooper said.