POPE COUNTY, Ark. — Tuesday’s storm fell short of the worst-case scenario, but it did hit some neighborhoods harder than others, especially in the Arkansas River Valley.
People living on Hurricane Lane, near the city of Atkins in Pope County, started cleaning up the debris on their property during breaks in the rain Tuesday afternoon. Several trees fell along the street, knocking down power lines and bringing a cadre of emergency personnel to the area. One of those trees fell on top of a woman and trapped her.
“She seems to be okay, yes,” Pope County Sheriff Shane Jones said. “She was responsive and talking to people and responding well.”
Pope County sheriff’s deputies and Atkins firefighters had to help free her from the tree before they could get her into an ambulance. Jones said it was a tricky maneuver because of all the broken power lines that fell on the road on either side of her house.
“It is very dangerous,” he stated. “Especially—we caution folks, please be careful, because any time, you know, a storm like this blows through, it has the potential of having power lines on the ground.”
Debris spread around the neighborhood after the roof on a chicken farm’s storage building ripped off. According to the National Weather Service, the damage was caused by a microburst, a sudden explosion of straight-line winds that reached 80-90 miles per hour.
“The weather was here, and we’re just blessed that she’s okay right now, and that nobody else was hurt,” Jones said. “So, she’s a lucky lady today.”
Jones said that the woman was the only reported injury in Pope County due to the storm. Given that the system spawned several tornadoes when it passed through Oklahoma the day before, he added that he was grateful the result was not worse in Arkansas.