Tornado hit Little Rock

Faulkner

Faulkner

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What are the odds, I happened to be in Little Rock on business today as a super cell moves through and a tornado cuts a swath through a heavily populated part of Arkansas' capital city. Fortunately, I was across town at the State Capital when it came through but my path home is blocked due to debris including closed sections of I-630, I-430, and I-40.

Having grown up in Little Rock I decided to head over to a friends house and wait it out but when I called him he said his neighborhood was heavily damaged including his home, and I probably couldn't get there anyway due debris blocked roadways.

I have reported in to the local EOC and advised that I'm available to help but since this is a developing situation they asked that I sit tight for now and standby for the second wave of storms that is headed this way. In fact, I just heard of another tornado warning. As I monitor the radio net I also heard a request go out for additional ambulances from surrounding communities.

I know there are some other forum members in central Arkansas, hope you guys are all safe.

Not looking good, gonna be a long night. Gotta go now.
 
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Quick update, I just heard that the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock is operating under mass casualty status.

I'm also watching reports of another super cell in southwest Arkansas that is headed this way.
 
I know hurricanes are bad, but in my area of Florida, I'd take our normal hurricane any day over a killer tornado.

I lived in Cincinnati April 3rd 1974. It was bad.

Hope the best for Arkansas!



"Some of the strongest tornadoes from this outbreak occurred right here in the Ohio Valley. Dozens of tornadoes struck Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, resulting in 159 deaths, over 4000 injuries, and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage. Two violent F5 tornadoes destroyed much of Xenia and Sayler Park (a western suburb of Cincinnati) in Ohio. Resulting in 34 deaths, the Xenia tornado was the deadliest of all tornadoes from this outbreak and remains among the top 10 costliest U.S. tornadoes on record (approximately $250 million in 1974). Several other strong F2 to F4 tornadoes also touched down during the Super Outbreak across southeast Indiana, northern Kentucky, and southwest Ohio, an area that today encompasses NWS Wilmington, Ohio's warning area."
 
wood714 said:
I know hurricanes are bad, but in my area of Florida, I'd take our normal hurricane any day over a killer tornado.

I lived in Cincinnati April 3rd 1974. It was bad.

Hope the best for Arkansas!



"Some of the strongest tornadoes from this outbreak occurred right here in the Ohio Valley. Dozens of tornadoes struck Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, resulting in 159 deaths, over 4000 injuries, and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage. Two violent F5 tornadoes destroyed much of Xenia and Sayler Park (a western suburb of Cincinnati) in Ohio. Resulting in 34 deaths, the Xenia tornado was the deadliest of all tornadoes from this outbreak and remains among the top 10 costliest U.S. tornadoes on record (approximately $250 million in 1974). Several other strong F2 to F4 tornadoes also touched down during the Super Outbreak across southeast Indiana, northern Kentucky, and southwest Ohio, an area that today encompasses NWS Wilmington, Ohio's warning area."
Click to expand...


I'm with you on that, hurricane Ida kicked our butt in 2021 but I knew it was coming and evacuated well before unlike tornadoes where they just drop out of the sky.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Strong storms are due to start at 5PM here with possible tornados in Illinois now that may hit us here. Temperature went up to 71 degrees from 40 degrees in about an hour. My barometer is lower than I've seen it in years.
 
Yikes! Seems like there's lots of tornadoes already this year. Stay safe!

Edit:. Just watching footage of the damage in Little Rock on the news. Lots of damage! Prayers for any victims.
 
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All ya all, hunker down and stay safe!

Ivan

I remember 4/3/74 (my Senior year in H.S.) I was in Sunbury, Ohio and the sky was a beautiful crystal blue, except this black stripe of a cloud that was a few miles wide. I ran straight from Xenia, Right over where I was standing. It was a very strange day, then we started getting the damage reports!

Ivan
 
I was born and raised outside of Cincinnati OH so I was raised in our version of Tornado Alley (I believe the Shawnee Indians referred to the area as the Valley of the Big Winds). The first Tornado I ever actually saw, was one in the cluster that hit Cincinnati and surrounding areas on 4-3-1974. I have now lived and worked in Xenia OH for 43 years (you can still see scars from the 4-3-1974 Tornado) and have been through 3 more Tornado outbreaks. It really is a case of just bending over, greeting your posterior, covering your head and praying for the best.
I am praying for those who have been affected in the past week and are facing another dangerous night.
 
mckenney99 said:
I was born and raised outside of Cincinnati OH so I was raised in our version of Tornado Alley (I believe the Shawnee Indians referred to the area as the Valley of the Big Winds). The first Tornado I ever actually saw, was one in the cluster that hit Cincinnati and surrounding areas on 4-3-1974. I have now lived and worked in Xenia OH for 43 years (you can still see scars from the 4-3-1974 Tornado) and have been through 3 more Tornado outbreaks. It really is a case of just bending over, greeting your posterior, covering your head and praying for the best.
I am praying for those who have been affected in the past week and are facing another dangerous night.
Click to expand...


I lived in Cincinnati from the time I was born, 1957 until I moved to Florida in 2001.

I owned 2 house during that time. When looking for a house the one thing it HAD to have was a basement. When those sirens go off, it's a comfort to have somewhere safe to go.

My cousins in laws lived in Saylor Park 4-3-74. They had no basement. They grabbed their mattress and covered themselves and laid in a hallway. When it was over the only thing left of their house was the hallway walls. Everything else was leveled.

I don't think they were laying there alone.
 
We have lived in Arkansas for almost 70 years. Tornados are a fact of life here and I have been close to several and seen a few while outside watching, of course. When we built a new home 10 years ago we had a safe room built as part of it. Since then 2 tornados have gotten very close. But only once did we head for the safe room and it was over before we got in. It was the middle of the night.
Some of the neighbors sort of grinned at us for building the safe room but on occasion when nasty storms are forecast a couple have asked if they could come over if it started getting bad. We would take all we could fit but the room is not that big.
The aftermath of the storms yesterday east of here is bad and prayers for our neighbors is still needed. We have a niece who has still not been able to get to her house. No idea if it is even standing.
 
I think that this may also be a "Divine Intervention" situation.

I've read Lt. Faulkner's posts for many years and I believe that for whatever reasons, he was sent to the Little Rock area to be there to assist those who need him the most. In these situations there are never enough "First Responders" to provide help and assistance.

I also believe that Daisy is "on duty" 24X7 watching over Mrs. Faulkner until he returns.

Bill
 
Bought my first house in April 2008. On Mothers Day it was damaged by a tornado that hit Macon, GA. It was three days before it was possible for me to get to the house. My house was intact, roof damage, etc. On the same block houses were ripped pieces, people killed/injured. Took months to remove all the downed trees, etc. The VFW electric sign on the other side of Eisenhower Parkway was in my backyard. They came and loaded it up and moved it out. Will say, Hartford Insurance was wonderful. No fiddling around. Paid everything w/ no arguments, etc.

My heart goes out to the folks who have now had their lives turned upside down by these tornados. May God help them. Sincerely. bruce.
 
Well, what started out to be a day trip to Little Rock for some business at the state capital turned into two and a half days in the middle of a devastating event. I ended up helping with search and rescue in some of my old teenage stomping grounds Friday night and into Saturday morning.

I grabbed a couple of hours shuteye in my car and then went to an old college buddy's home and helped him cut a large pine tree that had blown over onto his home. As we were removing some debris off his roof I deflected a large piece of metal as it slid off with my forearm that earned me deep gash. I have an extensive first aide kit in my go-bag and was able to clean and dress it. Fortunately, I'd had a tetanus shot not long ago.

By mid afternoon we had gotten a tarp tacked in place over the hole in my buddy's roof and the broken windows boarded up. We got the place cleaned up enough that he and his family could occupy it albeit without power until the utilities are restored. With the sun headed down the roads were cleared up enough that I could work my way out of town and head towards home.

I've been engaged in many devastating storm scenes in my career, including a stint in Orleans Parish after Katrina and several killer tornados in Arkansas, but as I drove through the storm damaged area it was heartbreaking to see the damage and destruction in parts of my old hometown.

Took me about two and a half hours to make it home, but after hug and a quick look at my arm Mrs. Faulkner made me turn around and head back to the local ER to have it examined. An hour and half later I returned home with a dozen stitches.

As I'm winding down in my recliner with my iPad in my lap my key takeaway from the experience is I'm glad I am diligent about having my go-bag with me whenever I leave home. Everything from food, water, work gloves, change of clothes, suntan lotion, tooth brush & paste, and first aide kit all came in handy.

I also just saw the post about Bigwheelzip, God bless her family in this time.
 
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Marine Corps Air said:
I think that this may also be a "Divine Intervention" situation.

I've read Lt. Faulkner's posts for many years and I believe that for whatever reasons, he was sent to the Little Rock area to be there to assist those who need him the most. In these situations there are never enough "First Responders" to provide help and assistance.

I also believe that Daisy is "on duty" 24X7 watching over Mrs. Faulkner until he returns.

Bill
Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree!
 
My daughter lives in Sherwood AR, which is between N. LR and Jacksonville. High winds knocked trees onto houses and vehicles on her street but she was OK.

On April 3, 1974 I was sitting in a bar South of Dayton when the news of what turned out to be an EF 5 ripped through Arrowhead sub-division in Xenia where my brother lived. They had Hwy 35 blocked off so I could not get through to him. My parents lived in Beavercreek so I holed up with them until we heard from Don. When I finally got into Xenia my brothers house was untouched, Two houses down from him, and the rest of the houses on his street were GONE. Nothing but slabs. A good friend lived above the camera shop across from the court house in Xenia. Freight train cars were scattered about like toys. That day in 1974 was the largest tornado outbreak in our history.

You can't imagine how I felt when I heard about the disaster in little Rock. I immediately called my daughter and she and her kids are just fine. Thank God.
 
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