At least one tornado ripped through central Arkansas Thursday evening, savaging a mobile home park and sending National Weather Service forecasters into a bunker as the storm roared overhead.
"There's pretty extensive damage in the Little Rock area," said John Lewis, a senior forecaster with the weather service at the North Little Rock Airport.
At least four people were hurt, authorities said, but there were no reports of fatalities.
"We went into our shelter," Lewis said. "We could hear it ... go by."
The storm destroyed hangars at the North Little Rock Airport and tossed numerous small planes. The forecasters spent about three minutes in their shelter.
"The scariest moment of my life," said Mike Aubrey, who was at the airport securing his plane ahead of the storm. "Debris was flying across the ramp. Planes were beginning to stack up."
Aubrey said he saw a Douglas DC-3, an early passenger plane, spin around. The aircraft was nowhere to be found after the tornado passed, he said.
The damage extended from southwest of Little Rock to the northeast. "There's some structural damage in the city of Little Rock and several areas north of North Little Rock," said John Rehrauer, spokesman for the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department. "A lot of trees and power lines are down."
The same storm also caused damage in southwestern Little Rock and the town of Benton, Lewis said. It also pummeled the Hurricane Lake Mobile Home Park in Saline County, about 12 miles southwest of Little Rock.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment