(FOX) Emergency workers in Washington County, Arkansas, have confirmed three people are dead after a possible tornado touchdown in the small town of Cincinnati in northwestern Arkansas. The emergency workers are working to free several people trapped in buildings hit by the storm. The storm also knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses. Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport is closed now because of debris on the runway.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher Josh Howerton says the storm caused damage along State Highway 59 in downtown Cincinnati and through most of the western portion of Washington County early Friday. He says there are “lots of injuries.”
Rick Johnson, the deputy emergency manager for Washington County, says the same storm system caused damage in nearby Tontitown. Johnson says initial emergency responders are having trouble reaching the damaged areas because of downed power lines.
The Tulsa weather office issued a tornado warning for Cincinnati and area towns at 6 a.m., nine minutes before the storm hit.
“I’ve never heard one, but I know what one sounds like now,” resident Randall Sisemore told NWAOnline.com.
Later Friday morning, in south-central Missouri, baseball-sized hail was reported north of Mansfield in Wright County.
“This storm system has been showing significant signs that it could develop,” said Chris Buonanno, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock who was monitoring the storms as they moved deeper into Arkansas. “Conditions are favorable for seeing a severe outbreak.
“In the winter you don’t always have the instability” that would allow tornadoes to develop, Buonanno said. “This time, we have the instability.”
A line of storms that passed through Oklahoma early Friday is rapidly moving into northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri and the weather service has issued a handful of tornado warnings in the area.
