Storm Chaser reports the Atkins, Arkansas Tornado

Brief Summary:
At 4:30pm I reached Atkins, AR ahead of a fast moving supercell that was making a beeline for the town. Unfortunately, this part of Arkansas is heavily wooded. I had planned on chasing E AR but that didn't pan out. It took me a good 20 minutes to scout a location with good road (escape) options and view to the southwest. I found this location on the southwest side of town as the updraft base was coming into view. The base was fairly small and with rapid rotation. I was confident that it was producing a tornado without having a view of the surface. At 5:00pm, I got a clear view of the tornado as it grew form an elephant trunk within a translucent bowl of rain, into a wide stovepipe. The core overtook me at 5:02 and I never saw it again. Moments later I came across the damage 1-mile east of Atkins.

The damage track appeared to be about ¼-mile wide. Two homes on the periphery of the tornado appeared to have EF-0 to EF-1 type damage. The home in the middle of the path was completely removed from its foundation and disintegrated. It appeared to be built on a stacked cinderblock foundation. Two of the neighbors from surrounding homes were at this house looking for survivors. I asked if everyone was okay and they said they were fine. Although, they didn't know if anyone was at the home that was leveled. About an hour later I came back through the same area and there was a bad car accident at the start of the damage path. A car had collided with another vehicle that had stopped where a power pole was across the road. Judging from the damage the car must have been going at least 50mph and I wouldn't be surprised if fatalities resulted from this accident. The accident likely occurred when visibility was reduced by a line of storms moved through after the initial supercell.

Category:

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[kagome122885]

At around 2 min 35 seconds, you can see a Federal Signal Thunderbolt Siren. Awesome siren, but the drawback is the T-Bolt can only operate on AC power, and if the power fails, you're screwed unless you have a generator for the siren.

[violentplainsdotcom]

Wow, good eyes. The power must have been out because it wasn't going off.

[w20pker]

i dont know much about tornatos but a tornato looks like a cylender spinning...i see nothing -.-

[violentplainsdotcom]

The tornado is easy to see at the 1:15 mark moving from right to left. It is about 1.5 miles away.

[PirateQueenMaureen]

I've noticed lots of comments about not being able to see the tornado. That is why so many chasers choose to avoid Arkansas when out storm chasing, because of the mountainous/hilly terrain, it can make a tornado impossible to see until it is right on you and too late to escape, unlike in the plains states.

[jbmorr03]

if YOU SCROLL you can see it moving. It's hard to see the movement in real time

[BbyBre99]

i remember that day...it was the most scariest thing ever!

[6sixdeep]

I live 10 minutes from Atkins..I remember that shit.., It destroyed a church...

[almaboner09]

I was here this day! I was in Russellville at All State Choir auditions and we head the sirens going off.

[Hbryant188]

@kagome122885 you can see the power go out at 1:34

[TheHater46]

HOLY SHIT I DIDNT GET 2 SEE IT DAMN DAT THING IS HUGE

[tvfan103]

I was in Morrilton Arkansas when that happened. That tornado was about 1 mile from my house and it still did not do shit to it!!! I was lucky that me, my soon to be stepdad, and my mom were at Ortegas Restaurant while we were over there. And my dad and my brother was going to a basketball game and they were avoiding hay bales. That shit was near Hattieville, Arkansas and we did not have power for like 12 hours.

[TheMightykaz]

@PirateQueenMaureen I was there driving back from Little Rock and I did not see the tornado. It literally crossed I-40 about a minute behind me. Never saw it. Clouds did look very odd though.

[rockinperson21]

This has got to be the scarest day of my life. I just got home and i saw the monseter touch down just about a block or two away form my house. I was screaming and crying because i had no idea what else to do. someone had to drag me to the closet to take shether. The next day, we all had to still go to school. All my friends were hugging me because there was a girl that was killed and they all thought it was me that was killed. That will be a day that i will never forget.

[stormspotters]

@kagome122885 Yea Atkins is in the county of Pope Arkansas and the when i was there watching this they sounded the siren once way before it hit and again right before it hit so they turned them off when it hit idk why though.

[enchiladaproductionz]

Oh my gosh my cousin knew her