Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Storms ravage southern Nevada County

There was plenty memorable about the Memorial Day weekend, but not the type of memories anyone really wants.

On Sunday, May 30, storms ripped through the area, drenching Nevada County with heavy rains while high winds wreaked havoc. But, before the county had a chance to recover a second storm came through on June 2, with even higher winds.

The second storm, according to Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown, caused so much damage because the ground was still saturated from the first storm. This, he said, allowed the winds, said to be between 80-100 miles per hour at times, to literally rip trees out of the ground.

The aftermath of the storm looked like a tornado had gone through, but none were reported, according to meteorologist Davis Benton. He said the south part of the county received 15 inches of rain from the two storms.

The May storm, Brown said, washed out several roads in the county, basically taking out the center third of the county. Rain covered Arkansas Highways 371 and 53 in places, making driving dangerous.

County road crews began working Sunday night, May 30, to clear roads, but saw much of their efforts go for naught when the second series of storms came through on June 2.

"We need 60-80 people working a week to get the job done," Brown said after the first storm, "but we have 18. We'll be working about six weeks."

Rain fell in varying amounts across the county. While Cale received 6.5 inches of rain, Rosston got about eight inches. Prescott, on the other hand, had 2.05 inches from the May 30 storm.

Benton said the bulk of the rain in Cale fell between 6-9 p.m. "In all my years with the weather service," he said, "I've been through several hurricanes, but never saw that much rain in such a short time."

Jim Cross, county director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM), said several homes were damaged in the first storm, but none were destroyed. Several shops and outbuildings were damaged as well.

According to Cross, an F-0 tornado touched down but didn't cause much damage. F-0 is the lowest rating for a tornado on the Fujita scale, which ranges from 0-5. The Bluff City area was the worst hit, he said, because the storm intensified as it crossed the county.

Then came the second storm.

Wally Hulan, chief deputy with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office, said Emmet was one of the hardest hit places with the June 2 storm. He added several parts of the county were still without power Thursday morning and trees were on power lines in the Bodcaw area.

But, he said, the biggest problem was on Interstate-30 as trees blown across the road resulted in several accidents. However, there were no injuries reported because of the wrecks. The winds, though, did blow several semis over.

Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said the city got lucky as there was little damage. Most of the damage in town was from limbs being down.

Electricity was off in Prescott from about 8 p.m. until around 3:30 a.m., but, Taylor said, it was because of damage to the feeder lines from Entergy, not from the city's equipment.

The generator at the water plant did what it was supposed to, he said, and kicked on when the power went out. This kept city residents provided with water.

"We got lucky," he said, "that's all."

Brown said the second storm wasn't as bad as the ice storm in 2000, but it was bad. "It was worse from Emmet toward Bodcaw and Bluff City."

The hurricane force winds uprooted trees, leaving them across roads and downing power lines. As of Friday, June 4, there were still residents in the south part of the county without electricity.

Emmet Mayor Dale Booker said Emmet is in the same shape as the county with downed trees and power lines.

No part of Emmet was truly spared from the storm. Limbs were down in every yard at the very least, though most had trees or other debris in them.

The oak trees in the cemetery, Booker said, were uprooted and will have to be cut up and carried away. The city's shop, a metal building, was demolished by the high winds, with parts of the metal coming to rest against a nearby mobile home.

Electricity was first restored to the city's wells so residents would have water. However, all residents still didn't have electricity by Friday.

A large part of the roof at Emmet school was damaged as well, he said. The damaged area was primarily over the cafetorium.

The school's tornado shelter wasn't open, Booker said, which irritated some people. But, he added, at no time was a tornado warning issued.

Lewis Jackson, Rosston mayor, said they were hit hard in that part of the county as well, with trees being uprooted and blown across roads.

All city streets were cleared by Friday, though all residents were without electricity by the end of the week. Several mobile homes in the area were damaged, with one being destroyed when a tree fell on it, Jackson said.

"We're trying to get insurance companies to come and assess things," he said.

Rosston was better prepared for this storm, Jackson said, because of the ice storm, as a generator was hooked to the water supply to provide water to Rosston residents.

"I expect the county to be declared a disaster," Brown said. "This put us about a month behind in our plans. Instead of chipping and sealing roads, we're cutting trees.

"Most of the work has been done by volunteers and I appreciate them. Without their help we wouldn't be able to get things done."

There was more structural damage from the second storm than the first, he said, but this was due to the ground already being saturated making it easier for the winds to uproot trees. "We had two storms to contend with  a flood and a windstorm. The first rain led to most of the damage from the second storm.