LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Governor Asa Hutchinson has declared a state of emergency following the severe weather that traveled across Arkansas Friday night into early Saturday morning.
The proclamation states that severe weather and straight-line winds struck various areas of the state.
The results have limited the abilities for commercial vehicles to accomplish their designated responsibilities -- like hauling heavy equipment, over-sized loads, transformers, necessary hardware, and other distribution equipment to line crews for the purposes of restoring power to the citizens of Arkansas.
In the proclamation, the governor invokes emergency executive powers and to "suspend the provisions of regulating statutes prescribing procedures for conduct of the State Office of Purchasing, the Arkansas Building Authority, the State Office of Personnel Management, and all other State departments and agencies."
This is in order to render maximum assistance to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, relative to any potential help to the disposal site and to rendering of assistance to political subdivisions.