TORNADO HITS OUR LITTLE TOWN

A house in Cener Point that was destroyed in tornado.
Many of our pine trees were destroyed.

Dierks water treatment plant originally had two stories.

Thursday, April 9 was a terrible time in our little community. We were watching television and heard that a tornado had hit DeQueen and was headed toward us. I called my girls because they were at a birthday party and might not know about the tornado warning. They did and were headed home. They arrived, bringing with them many that were at the party. I got my radio, water, lights and phone and headed to the storm shelter with about a dozen other people.

My sweet little Madasan made sure that I got into that shelter safe and sound. She helped me all the way. We all crowded into the shelter and waited. Some that gathered did not get in the shelter at first but finally when things got pretty rough in they came. The main thing we had was wind. I think the tornado passed over our place and we got very little damage. Just a few limbs and twigs in the yard was the extent of our damage.

We were so lucky because there were so many others that were not so lucky. DeQueen was hit pretty hard. The Mena community was hit hard with three killed. The following is a quote from the Nashville radio station website:

The weather service officials say that the tornado that demolished the Dierks water treatment plant last Thursday was rated an EF3 with wind speeds of approximately 140 miles per hour. Survey teams from Shreveport were in southwest AR Saturday touring the damaged areas. They determined the tornado began in McCurtain County, OK and then moved along a thirty mile path that ended at Highway 278, about three miles north of Dierks. A report from the weather service said the storm was up to a half mile wide and was at its strongest point in Howard County when it snapped and uprooted trees at Dierks Lake along with causing heavy damage to the Corps of Engineers building and the Dierks water treatment plant. Seven injuries were reported when the tornado tracked along Highway 71 north in DeQueen. Classes in the Dierks Public School District were closed until Wednesday as city officials continued to work on improving the water pressure in town.

*taken from the Southwest AR Radio website