Arkansas Slammed by Deadly Storms

Posted on May 3, 2008

AP photo / Mike Wintroath

The “after” photo: A truck sits among the debris left by powerful storms in Center Ridge, Ark., on Friday.

Emergency response teams faced a busy weekend helping Arkansas residents cope with the aftermath of another round of severe weather that pounded the Southern state Friday with heavy thunderstorms and tornadoes. Eight lives were lost, raising the state’s storm-related death toll for the year to 24.

AP via My Way News:

Storms ripped off roofs and toppled train cars near Kansas City, Mo. Oklahoma endured severe hail, and tents tumbled at an open-air market in eastern Texas. Late Friday, a storm hit Earle in eastern Arkansas, then a line of severe thunderstorms pushed into Kentucky and threatened to dampen the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Wes Morrison, 24, was at a convenience store in Earle when a friend called to warn about the storm. “Dad and I took off,” Morrison said. “As we were (driving) down Main Street, you could just see that cloud twirling around.”

He and his father made it to an inside bathroom of his grandparents’ house just before the tornado came through, Morrison said.

“I don’t think it lasted but 10 seconds,” he said. “When it was over, the First Baptist Church of Earle, which is just across the street from my grandparents’ house - it’s gone.”

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