Environment, Science, Uncategorized

Mayflower, Arkansas hit again. This time the weather.

by Charlton (Chuck) Stanley, weekend contributor

140px-NOAA_logo.svgOne year ago this month, I posted my first blog as a weekend guest blogger. You can read it here. That story involved a major oil spill when the Exxon Pegasus pipeline ruptured at Mayflower. That pipeline was carrying tar sands oil. Thousands of gallons of raw oil spilled from the rupture into the south end of Lake Conway and parts of Mayflower. Oil ran down the streets of the small town.

A small geography lesson. Little Rock is located in almost the exact center of the state. Little Rock and North Little Rock are bisected by the Arkansas River. Conway is about thirty miles northwest of Little Rock. Mayflower is between Conway and Little Rock and considered by local people to be a suburb of both cities.

At about 7:00 PM Central Time, a massive tornado hit Mayflower. The total number of dead and injured is not known yet, but an early breaking news story says a body was found near I-40. Cars, trucks and recreational vehicles are shown piled up like jackstraws in some of the photos posted to social media and news sites. The twister was reported by storm chasers to be a half-mile wide.

In early reports, the tornado missed the most congested parts of Little Rock and Conway, but there is damage in the suburbs, including Mayflower, which is virtually leveled. It is too early to get a good handle on the storm track. Other states were hit as well, including Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma. Since this story is only about three hours old, and it is dark, no one knows the full extent of the damage, or the number of dead and injured.

There are one or two good videos up so far, posted just minutes ago on YouTube. This first one is an aerial view from a drone, posted by one of the reporters from KATV.

This video shows why you should stop driving and park when you first see one of these monsters.

More early photos and information from Epoch Times.
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13 thoughts on “Mayflower, Arkansas hit again. This time the weather.”

  1. This on-air video was posted a little while ago. This is Tupelo, MS station WTVA-TV live weather broadcast as a tornado was actually hitting the city of Tupelo this afternoon. Weatherman Matt Laubhan stuck it out as long as he could before everyone had to evacuate the studio. Tupelo suffered massive damage, but no deaths reported yet.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTWQUy76paA

    More news from Tupelo late this afternoon, including photos and video, in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger at the link below.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2014/04/28/tornado-devastates-tupelo/8424701/

  2. How awful! Living in tornado alley, strangely the closest I’ve been to a tornado is a few miles away or saw rotation in the clouds. What a horror for these people.

  5. KARK in Little Rock is now reporting 16 confirmed dead at the time I post this. Now that it is daylight, the rescue effort is just getting underway in full swing. They will be looking for more dead, and survivors trapped in rubble. The link below goes to the live KARK web site, which is continuously updated.

    http://www.arkansasmatters.com/home

  6. Depending on reports there are up to 8 dead in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Our best wishes to everyone in both states.

  7. We had experienced a 99 year old record before this hit.

    It had been 99 years since there were no tornado deaths up until this time of the year.

    Thanks for the post Chuck.

  8. Video: Wow.

    Chuck: Congratulations on your one year ani. Shows what perseverance can do for you

  10. Thanks for picking up on this so quickly. I always read this blog first.

  11. After church, I came home to cut the grass. I noticed that my next door neighbor was placing large stones on top of her trash can. Before I could get a word out, she stated: ‘You haven’t heard or seen the weather forecast?’ I decided to cut the grass a little quicker.

    It is 11:50 pm, here in STL. It is very windy and the rain is coming down. We are ‘under the gun’ tomorrow from noon to 3pm.

    My prayers go out to those in AR, KS, and parts of MO who have experienced any loss.

    What do you do when you have to leave your home at 10pm due to a storm of this magnitude? Where do you go when your vehicle is destroyed and the cell phone towers and/or power is out?

  12. raff,
    Death toll in Mayflower and Vilonia now stands at ten (10). It is bound to grow, and NWS is about to update with another alert or warning. There may be another one following this one. Station KARK reported a radar reflection off a debris ball at 25,000 feet. The average tornado is about 500 feet diameter. This one was more than 2,500 feet wide.

    http://www.thv11.com/story/news/local/2014/04/27/multiple-fatalities-mass-destruction-reported-in-arkansas-tornado/8341781/

  13. Wow! I hope that the human damage is minimal. Scary videos. We are supposed to get the severe stuff here tomorrow.

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