Wicked storm whips up damage

A strong but short-lived storm blew through Mississippi County Tuesday night, causing heavy damage in isolated areas, and leaving cleanup crews and electrical workers with a heavy amount of early morning work.

While tornadoes were reported in Lonoke, Craighead and Mississippi counties, no apparent tornado damage occurred in the Blytheville area. Weather service investigators will visit affected areas Wednesday to confirm whether or not tornadoes occurred.

In Blytheville, there were large power outages in a few areas, some in the west part of town and some in the south, according to Police Chief Ross Thompson.

"Several power poles went down," said Thompson, who monitored the storm's progression until 2 a.m. Wednesday. "And some falling trees and limbs took down some power lines. The fallen trees were cleared almost immediately; and we had no reported injuries."

The Blytheville Entergy building sustained heavy damage, as did the utility poles on the Arkansas Northeastern College campus.

Some of the heaviest Blytheville damage took place on Byrum Road, where the fertilizer storage bins at Crop Production Services caught fire, apparently because of a lightning strike.

"There was heavy damage to the bins, which were almost a total loss, as well as their conveyor equipment. Luckily, the wind was in our favor and we were able to keep it from spreading to the main building or other areas," said Blytheville Fire Chief Mike Carney, who added that cleanup crews from Nashville and other areas are on their way to help clear up the company's damage and attempt to salvage the equipment.

The City Electric building in central Blytheville also suffered heavy damage, with the parts of the roof being blown off the building.

Other cities in the county sustained some damage and power outages, according to Annette Parish of Mississippi County Electric Co-op. Parish said there were outages in Lepanto, Manila, and Dell, but most of them had already been re-connected, and what was left should be fixed by Wednesday afternoon at the latest.

The were also reports of heavy damage in the south part of Mississippi County.

A spokesman for the Manila Police Department reported minimal storm damage in that community.

While the storm also hit Gosnell, GPD Chief Bobby Trump reported no damage, aside from a storage shed and a trampoline blowing over at a few residences.

An Entergy spokesman said crews are working to restore the city's power as quickly as possible, but say that all the work will not be completed until midnight Wednesday, as there were approximately 4,600 Entergy customers who reported storm-related outages.

sharris@blythevillecourier.com