Eyewitness accounts of storms that swept through Hempstead County on Wednesday confirmed the likelihood of a tornado forming in the clouds between the Hempstead County line and the Blevins area which apparently never touched down but associated winds and hail left damage in at least three rural areas.
The National Weather Service office in Shreveport, La., confirmed Thursday that it is investigating the possibility of a tornado in the area along Arkansas Highway 371 between the county line and McCaskill, and associated tree and hail damage in the Ozan and Yancey areas.
NWS Meteorologist Ken Falk said the storms moved into Hempstead County about 4:20 p.m. Wednesday and swept across Arkansas.
“It's the same storm that went all the way through Arkansas and into Northeastern Missouri,” Falk said. “We've got someone coming up there to do a damage survey this morning; they should be getting there about now.”
Falk said the survey team will determine whether the tornadic activity caused tree damage and unconfirmed reports of damage to one residence in the Ozan area. No official sources confirmed the residential damage at press time Thursday.
“It's all between Nashville and McCaskill,” he said. “That storm had good rotation.”
Falk said golf ball-sized hail was reported in Magnolia, and 1 ¼ inch hail in Lafayette County, along with golf ball-sized hail in the Spring Hill area about 5:30 p.m. from a second wave of storms which barreled through the county.
“We had a bunch of reports; not just there, but from all over Southwest Arkansas,” he said.
Tree damage was reported in the McCaskill area and at Ozan and Falk said a power line was damaged in the Yancy area. The power line damage was confirmed in radio communications Wednesday by Hempstead County sheriff's deputies to be confined to guide wires to a power pole.
Hempstead County Roads Superintendent Bobby Steed tracked the cloud rotation as it blew through the Blevins area Wednesday.
“I saw the tornado,” Steed said. “We got on that hill outside Blevins, and me and three state troopers watched it, but it never touched the ground. It went north between Murfreesboro and Delight.”
Steed said the twister was visible for about two minutes.
“At Blevins we didn't get any wind at all,” he said. “You could see the rotation in the clouds, but there was no tail to it. It was moving pretty fast.”
