BENTONVILLE — The state’s death toll stood at eight — including three in Benton County — as of an 8 p.m. briefing Sunday led by Gov. Sarah Sanders at the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
Efforts to account for everyone who may have been affected by the storm are ongoing, she said.
The governor will remain in Northwest Arkansas on Monday along with officials of her administration to render assistance while the search and recovery continues, she said. Sen. John Boozman and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, both of Rogers, joined Benton County Judge Barry Moehring, the mayors of Bentonville and Rogers along with other civic leaders at the briefing.
About 73,000 Arkansans were still without power Sunday night, the governor said, down from about 120,000 earlier that day.
Names and other details of the victims were not released.
According to the briefing, one death in Benton County was the direct result of a fallen tree. An elderly woman died when a large red oak tree fell on her mobile home in the Monte Ne area of Rogers, according to Benton County Coroner Daniel Oxford.
Another Benton County death was the result of a heart attack during the storm; the third was a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease sufferer unable to breathe after losing power.
“It’s a miracle we don’t have way more fatalities,” Oxford said, adding the storm left behind “an absolute mess.”
Moehring said at Sunday’s briefing the number of injuries in Benton County seemed remarkably light considering the severity and extent of the storm damage.
Chad Hathaway, the Boone County coroner, said one person was killed and six were injured and taken to a hospital.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said Patricia Anne Sontag, 73, died after her mobile home near Salesville was destroyed. Her body was found about 300 yards away.
Across Baxter County, 17 people were injured and were treated at a Mountain Home hospital, according to the sheriff. One child was transferred to Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
Chris Buonanno, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said the Boone County tornado had a preliminary rating of EF-3, which means winds were 136 to 165 mph. He said there were reports of damaged houses in the county. Buonanno said that was the only confirmed tornado as of late Sunday in the North Little Rock office’s coverage area, which includes Boone, Marion and Baxter counties.
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North Arkansas Storm DamageBENTONVILLE — The state’s death toll stood at eight — including three in Benton County — as of an 8 p.m. briefing Sunday led by Gov. Sarah Sanders at the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.
The weather service also reported via social media its survey team had found EF-3 tornado damage near Decatur.
“Yes, we did have tornadoes in Northwest Arkansas — mainly in Benton County, Carroll County and Boone County,” said Mike Lacy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa, which monitors seven counties in Northwest Arkansas, including Benton and Carroll.
Both Buonanno and Lacy said survey crews were still in the field assessing damage, so more details will be known in a day or two.
The storm passed from Oklahoma into Benton County around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
Sanders, in response to Sunday’s storms, signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency and directing $250,000 from the Governor’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund to be used at the discretion of the director of the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management.
The order states commercial and emergency response vehicles being used to help restore power may bypass all state weigh station facilities through June 9.
Moehring — during a press conference at 7 a.m. Sunday, just a few hours after the storm had passed — said multiple emergency responders were handling calls concerning search and rescue and other life-saving missions.
“This is our top priority right now,” he said. “We still have people in need of first responders and we are making sure that’s what is happening now.”
Moehring said he’s contacted all of the county’s mayors to let them know he’s activated the county’s emergency operations to coordinate a regional response.
The city of Decatur came through the storm OK, but outlying areas were hit hard, said Decatur Mayor Bob Tharp. Two people on Carlton Drive — in the county just west of Decatur — were injured when a mobile home rolled over, and another two people suffered minor injuries, he said. Tharp was not aware of their names or conditions as of Sunday night.
Power lost
Robert McGowen, the county’s director of emergency management, said some areas were difficult to get to because of downed power lines.
Benton County Sheriff Shawn Holloway said the east area of the county is where access has been difficult because of trees on the power lines.
“The sun is just coming up and we are assessing how big this will be,” Holloway said at the Sunday morning press conference.
As of 8:45 a.m. Sunday, a combined 73,000 customers in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties lacked power, with Benton County accounting for 65,821 of them, according to the website PowerOutage.us. By 7:30 p.m., the four-county total had shrunk to 56,348, with 46,882 of those in Benton County.
SWEPCO reported in a news release Sunday morning that crews were being mobilized to assess damage and make plans “to restore power quickly and safely.” Additional tree and line crews are being dispatched to Northwest Arkansas to help with the restoration effort, the release states.
The storm snapped more than 300 utility poles and damaged several hundred spans of electrical wire, according to the SWEPCO release.
Bentonville Mayor Stephanie Orman said Sunday morning there had been over 100 calls and crews were working on water and gas leaks.
Bentonville Police Chief Ray Shastid said the priority was checking on the city’s residents and getting them out of their homes if needed. Crews were still trying to gain access to some neighborhoods, he said.
Rogers police urged people in a Facebook post to avoid getting out and looking at damaged areas because it may hamper the police response.
“All our major streets have trees or are closed and we are still responding and trying to get to calls,” the post states.
Another post on the department’s Facebook page said there was a lot of structural damage to buildings around the area of 24th and Walnut.
Susie Q Malt Shop, a decades-old eatery in downtown Rogers, took a catastrophic hit.
“We are so extremely sad,” the shop posted on its Facebook page. “But blessed to be alive and well. Hold us up in your thoughts and prayers friends. We sure do need it.”
Dark and loud
Jesse Loyd and his wife, Jenny, were cleaning up debris in their yard Sunday afternoon in the Stonehenge subdivision on the north side of Bentonville.
He said they were sleeping when they got the alert about the storm around 1:15 a.m. They woke up their three kids — ages 7, 9 and 11 — and the family retreated to their safe spot in the basem*nt.
“Then at about 1:40, the lights went out, power went out, so we were kind of blind to what was happening,” Loyd said.
About 10 minutes later, “It really hit here. And it was just really loud,” he said. “It was dark, it was loud.”
Once the storm had passed, they went outside to assess the damage. Loyd described hearing trees still falling in the distance.
“It was eerie,” he said. “And what struck us was the smell. It smelled like wood and pine. It was real strong.”
Loyd said he’s lived in Northwest Arkansas his whole life and never experienced a storm such as Sunday’s. However, other than a couple of fallen trees and a missing chunk of fence, their home and property sustained minimal damage, he said.
Some others in the Stonehenge neighborhood were not so fortunate. Several homes in the neighborhood had massive trees leaning on them.
State Farm, an insurance company with a headquarters in Illinois, said in a news release Sunday insurance claims have already started being filed.
“As of (Sunday) morning, State Farm has already received approximately 1,000 homeowner and auto claims in Arkansas in the immediate aftermath of the storm,” the news release stated.
“Catastrophe claims adjusters and support members are deploying and arriving on-site,” the release said. “Catastrophe claim teams will be actively making contact and providing initial claim handling efforts for our impacted customers with a focus on the most severe losses.”
Schools damaged
The storm damaged some area school buildings.
Rogers Public Schools announced Sunday night its schools will be closed all this week, bringing an end to the school year. The School District’s last day originally was set to be Thursday.
Pretty much all of Rogers’ schools have debris everywhere, said Jason Ivester, communications director. Lingle Middle School and Northside and Westside elementaries took the brunt of the damage in the district; all three have serious roof damage and HVAC issues, Ivester said.
Rogers was going to open Mountie Arena at Rogers High School on Sunday night for staff members and their immediate family affected by the storm, he said.
In the Bentonville School District, there was minimal structural damage to school buildings, but there’s a lot of cleanup work to be done, said Leslee Wright, the district’s communications director. Some staff members are having to relocate because of significant damage to their homes, she said.
Bentonville’s last day of school also is scheduled to be Thursday.
