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Smashed vehicles lay stacked one on top of the other amid twisted steel and debris Wednesday in the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck at Clinton on Tuesday night. (Photo by Megan Reynolds-Stahl) Beebe declares 10 counties disaster areas following deadly twisters Thursday, Feb 7, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Beebe declared 10 Arkansas counties disaster areas Wednesday in the aftermath of tornadoes that killed 13 people across the state Tuesday night. Baxter, Conway, Independence, Izard, Pope, Randolph, Sharp, Stone, Union and Van Buren counties were included in the governor's declaration. The governor's office planned to submit a request to the federal government for disaster assistance Wednesday night, Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said. President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, all called Beebe to pledge their support, DeCample said. "We're appreciative for them to be very forthcoming and proactively contacting us about it," the governor' spokesman said. Beebe also authorized the release Wednesday of $250,000 from the Governor's Disaster Fund for disaster relief. The storms killed four people in Pope County, three in Van Buren County, two in Izard County, two in Conway County, one in Stone County and one Baxter County, according to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. At least 146 people were injured. In Van Buren County alone, seven people were transported to hospitals in critical condition and another 70 were transported with non-critical injuries, the agency said. Tuesday's storms also claimed lives in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. Beebe traveled Wednesday to Atkins, Clinton, Gassville and Mountain View to view storm damage. "This was about as devastated as you'll ever see," Beebe told The Associated Press while surveying a slab in Atkins that formerly supported a family's home. First responders and volunteers were conducting search-and-rescue operations Wednesday in the hardest hit areas. Beebe deployed 30 Arkansas National Guard soldiers to assist efforts in Atkins. The Guard also provided nine vehicles in Atkins, a power generator in Gassville and a 5,000-gallon tank of water in Clinton. By 5 p.m. Wednesday, 10 people were unaccounted for in Baxter County and two were unaccounted for in Izard County. Those people may have evacuated without telling anyone, ADEM officials said. The storms hit Arkansas during Super Tuesday voting. Some polling places closed up to 90 minutes early because of the severe weather, according to Natasha Naragon, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Charlie Daniels. A roof was blown off of a polling site in Clinton, but no injuries were reported there or at any other voting location, Naragon said. No voting machines or ballots were damaged in the storms, Naragon said. Several counties were late in tabulating results because of the severe weather, and by 5 p.m. Wednesday four counties - Craighead, Sharp, Stone and Van Buren - still had not tabulated results. Naragon said the secretary of state's office did not have a complete count of voter turnout, but based on counties that had reported totals by Wednesday afternoon, it appeared turnout was "fairly heavy" despite the severe weather. It was not immediately known how many tornadoes touched down in Arkansas, according to John Robinson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Little Rock. The National Weather Service was surveying the damage Wednesday. "We certainly know that the damage at Atkins was caused by a tornado, and the damage at Clinton was caused by a tornado. Until we get done with the survey, we don't know whether that was on the ground continuously from Atkins up there to Clinton," Robinson said. The combination of unseasonably warm and humid weather, very strong winds aloft and winds turning with height created the conditions in which the tornadoes were able to form, Robinson said. |
