2008-02-05 DISC: TX / AR / MO / IL / KY / TN / MS

The May 3rd tornado did cycle a bit once it crossed I-44 on the north side of Newcastle as it moved towards the river. While it morphed into a stovepipe and then a multiple vortex structure....it never seemed to weaken below F2/F3 strength as long as I watched it.
 
Just when you thought it couldn't get any more mind-boggling than the dental X-rays I found that originated in Clinton, AR ... This afternoon I found this:
21808debrisAtkins.jpg

I need to take a macro photo of the critical lines so any disbelievers will be satisfied, but, you need to know that David's Garage & Wrecker Service is located in ATKINS, AR!!! If my measurements are correct, Atkins is 91 miles from where I found this on our neighbors' property. It was dropped in a grove of cedars just off of a perimeter road, near a field edge. I have been meaning to scour the field edges on their property (I have found almost every item of paper on field edges so far) for over a week now. It's hard to tell what else I haven't found yet, but realisticaly, I never expected to find something from this far away. When I first started looking around at all, I thought something identifiable from Mountain View would be pretty amazing (that's closer to me than Clinton). I'm pretty sure I'm finding stuff from their hospital, which was badly damaged, but so far I can't nail that down because nothing I've found has anything like a name or address on it.

Regardless, my husband and I had a very difficult time wrapping our brains around the concept that this piece of paper made such a journey across the Ozarks and just happened to land, in relatively pristine condition, right here! In fact, this piece is actually in better condition than the other items I have found! As I said: It's mind boggling!
 
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Heidi,
Your finding this debris reminds me of the April 1998 tornado that hit parts of Jefferson County, Alabama, and touched down a couple more times all the way into Georgia. From what I remember, it was an F5 that caused numerous deaths and injuries. The one point it devastated in western Jefferson County was called Oak Grove. My Mom lives approximately 32 miles in an easterly direction, as the crow flies, from this area. I remember finding numerous pictures, papers, pieces of cloth, insulation, and clothing all along a path of approximately 1/2 mile around her house. I was able to drive some streets and follow the approximate path it took overhead by the debris found in yards, trees, and on the street. There were news reports of debris (supposedly verified) of some papers and debris found in western Georgia where it again touched down that came from Oak Grove. This was over 80 - 100 miles away. I remember hearing some of these reports and seeing them on TV and they are very similar to your findings and match what I also found.
 
An amazing find Heidi. Ive heard of items being found tens of miles from their origination but that is quite a distance. Have you tried to contact the owner of the shop to make sure that the document wasnt displaced by a truck doing a mobile call in the area at the time of the outbreak? Just a thought to wonder if even some of that incredible distance was made by more than wind. Nevertheless, im still calling this the SuperCELL Tuesday outbreak that will be in the history books.
 
Have you tried to contact the owner of the shop to make sure that the document wasnt displaced by a truck doing a mobile call in the area at the time of the outbreak?
Click to expand...
...

If I'm correctly understanding what you mean here (I hope I am :) ), there are several details I can add to kind of wipe out the chance of that happening, the first of which being that I'm pretty sure that there is a 0% chance that a tow-truck from this shop in Atkins was anywhere near Izard Co. that day. ;) The main thing, though, is that the date on the slip reads July 30, 2002. With that knowledge, I have to believe this came from a filing cabinet. All of the dated material I've found, from magazine pages to this repair order slip, is pretty old -- that is to say not current.

My intentions are to contact the shop (and the dentist's office) at some point. I am a little sensitive about doing that right now, though, because I feel like it's still too soon. On that note, my neighbor had some business in the Clinton area yesterday, and while he was there he toured the damage in town. Before he got there I told him about the X-rays, and it turns out he had actually visited that specific dentist a few years back, so he knew excatly where the office was. I spoke to my neighbor again yesterday after he got back, and he told me there is nothing left of the place. So ... I'm thinking that right now they would probably not be too charmed to learn that someone's X-rays from their office, or in the case of the Atkins debris, a repair order from their shop, landed all the way up here. But I may be wrong ... it might be an amazing curiosity for them.

- Thanks for the link to the debris project, Greg.
 
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