A storm that would seem more at home in the spring than in January swept through Pine Bluff early Friday morning, knocking down limbs and trees and cutting power to many areas, including two of the three school districts in Jefferson County.
Mayor Shirley Washington said she had people out looking since early Friday, shortly after the storm blew through about 5:15 a.m., to make sure citizens were safe and traffic wasn’t blocked. One of the harder-hit areas in the city was just east of the Pine Bluff Country Club, where the streets were blocked because of downed debris.
“In some areas there were downed live wires and we had to wait for Entergy to come out,” she said. “I talked to Entergy and they said they thought they would have power restored quickly.”
The city’s street department was quickly on the scene, Washington said, and they called in Weaver’s Tree Service because of the impassable roadways near the country club.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“As far as I know there were no injuries,” she said.
Some people said they were asleep when the storm came through. Asked if she was aware there had been a storm, Washington said, “Oh, yes, I was awake when it came through. I heard it. It sounded like hail and high winds, and in a few minutes it was gone.”
Power outages were spotty around town. Along Cherry Street, several traffic lights were out, but the downtown area had power, it appeared. The outages, however, were enough to disrupt school at Pine Bluff High School and in the White Hall School District.
The Pine Bluff School District said on social media that students who attend the high school would make up the school day at a later date, adding that phone lines were also down. All other PBSD campuses were open, with classes starting at their regularly scheduled time.
The WHSD announced on social media at 6:19 a.m. that bus routes would be delayed because of the outages, but at 7:28 a.m., the district announced that all campuses would close, with the school day to be made up Feb. 19.
“The power outage impacts a significant number of students within the district,” the WHSD said in a post, adding that Entergy expected power to be restored by 2 p.m.
Classes were in session in the Watson Chapel School District.
The online site poweroutage.us showed that 2,374 customers were without electricity in Jefferson County at mid-afternoon on Friday.
An official with the National Weather Service Office in North Little Rock said a cold front moved through “quickly and efficiently,” developing wind gusts of 70-90 mph across southeast Arkansas. The weather station at Grider Field showed a gust of 74 mph at 5:16 a.m.
Chris Buonanno, the science and operations officer at the weather service, said crews were on the ground in the Pine Bluff area “to find out what it was,” but he said initial indications were that the damage was caused by straight-line winds and not a tornado.
“This was a strong cold front that had strong winds aloft and it was very efficient at developing those strong winds at the ground level,” he said. “There were also hail reports. All in all, these were the types of conditions that form in the spring. There were definitely a lot of similarities.”
Karen Blevins, director of the Office of Emergency Management, said damage had been spotty around the county, with most of it affecting the roofs of houses. On U.S. 425 South, the old Southeast Volunteer Fire Department station had its roof ripped off, she said, and an 18-wheeler on Arkansas 81 flipped over because of the wind. Several houses on Stratton Drive near Atkins Lake were also damaged, she said.
Blevins said she had heard that a worker cutting debris had been injured, but she said that information had not yet been confirmed. As for injuries directly tied to the storm, Blevins said she was not aware of any.
“We’ve been out all morning,” she said, “and we’re about to head back out. We take notes and take photos — it’s something we do for the state — in case it does go to a disaster level.”
Senior Reporter I.C. Murrell contributed to this story.
A home on Stevens Drive had a front yard full of debris from Friday morning’s storm. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Byron Tate)
Darkened street lights sway in the wind Friday morning following a storm that blew through Pine Bluff, knocking out power to some areas. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Byron Tate)
Part of a roof and some of the exterior of a home were damaged in Friday morning’s storm that brought 70-to-90 mph winds to the area. (Special to The Commercial/Jennifer Kline)