At least 17 people are dead as a result of large, long-track tornadoes that roared through Arkansas and Oklahoma on Sunday, Reuters reports.
Strong winds caused massive damage in the towns of Mayflower and Vilonia, located in Arkanasas' Faulkner county. According to Arkansas authorities, at least 10 people had died in Faulkner, and six more across the state. Another person was killed in Quapaw, Oklahoma, according to Ottawa County Sheriff's Department spokesman Derek Derwin.
"An entire neighborhood of 50 or so homes has been destroyed. Many homes are completely gone except the foundation ... There is more devastation like this in other parts of Arkansas," state congressman Tim Griffin told Reuters.
Wow. 1km resolution polar-orbiting satellite image of tornado-producing storms over Arkansas, via @CIMSS_Satellite pic.twitter.com/uO6cRQ1tXO
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) April 28, 2014
Until now, the 2014 tornado season was considered to be one of the quietest on record. However, the storm that hit Arkansas might have been at the top end of the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which goes from EF-1 to EF-5.
The tornado was "at least a half mile wide," Greg Johnson, an author and storm chaser with tornadohunter.com told Mashable.
The National Weather Service in North Little Rock said the storm that hit Mayflower and Vilonia "has the potential to be EF3 or greater," according to Fox news. "Based on some of the footage we've seen from Mayflower and where it crossed Interstate 40, things were wrecked in a very significant way," said meteorologist Jeff Hood.