This has been a very rough day.
My home is 2.5 miles south of the damage path through Izard Co., AR. I live about 3 miles south of Franklin. The town of Zion (pop. 150 or so) is about 5 miles from my house, and sustained very heavy damage to at least 3/4 of the buildings in town. There was one fatality confirmed here.
I caught a glimpse of the tornado between lightning flashes last evening at around 6:30. I really could not believe what I was seeing at the time; it was about an hour later when I heard from a neighbor that his brother's house had (and I quote) "
just been blown away " that the reality of what I had seen in that instant set in.
When I saw the tornado it was about 2 miles south of where my husband and I had sought shelter at our neighbor's. (We don't have a shelter at our house. My chase day was called off as soon as the sun set. I do not have mobile internet yet, and I was not about to go out after this storm on our roads after dark. I might be dead if I had.) At the time I glimpsed the tornado, it had a large stove-pipe condensation funnel 3/4 of the way to the ground, with what I now realize were "wedge characteristics" on the sides. (Basically, imagine a suspended wedge with a fat stovepipe coming out the bottom.) The cloud base was extremely low, and I could hear the roar. (It was not as loud as it was on 9/22/06 when the rotating wall cloud came over-top of us at the exact same location, however, since it was farther away this time.)
After learning of the damage so close to our house, my husband and I drove a couple of miles up our road to see whether there was anything we could do to help. Our progress was stopped when we encountered these trees, which were basically stuffed up the road for 100 yards. These are large pines and cedars, and have since been cleared, with the help of special machinery:
The above photo was taken this morning at about 8:00. I had to find another route to Zion because of the trees blocking the road. When I got there, it was a difficult scene.
Our friends own a blueberry farm about a mile and a half outside of Zion, and we were especially concerned about their safety. After mapping the likely damage path on our DeLorme software, it appeared that the tornado would have been very close to their farm. Their farm sits in a valley on Piney Creek, and was completely surrounded by large pines (hence the name). Their house was not visible from the road, and their farm was very secluded once in the blueberry field; the perimeter of their property was surrounded by very large, stately pines and hardwoods. Upon entering this valley, the road takes a wide turn to the left (if driving north). When I rounded this curve today, I could not believe my eyes, even after seeing the devestation in Zion.
The first thing I saw was the remains of our friends farm, fully exposed and scattered across a quarter-mile of what is now virtually treeless fields. Even from a mile away, I could tell that their place had sustained heavy damage, and I feared for their safety if they had been inside. Their house is a nice modular home and sat on a block foundation. They had many outbuildings for their business; all of this was now indistinguishable from a few of their neighbor's homes debris and the debris from a large chicken barn about 1/4 mile from their berry farm.
This was once their blueberry business "barn." It housed equipment, and was the retail center during picking season.
Their vehicle; and I didn't blot out the license plate -- that's mud spray.
Their house. It was rocked about 5 feet completely off the foundation and is obviously a total loss.
Just north of their place (about a half-mile) was a very large broiler chicken opperation. This was about 1,000 yards total of chicken barns, along with a newly-built well constructed home. Here is what is left; the house sat at the base of the small hill on the right-hand side of this photo:
The damage through this valley is approaching a mile-wide. I have an 18-35mm lens, and from a mile back, I could not capture the entire damage swath.
Also (and I did not take photos of this), a very large cattle opperation south of Melbourne, AR, near Sage, was hit hard. About 150 cattle were killed. There are dead cows all over the place, with reports of some of them being carried long distances. The damage in this area is about 1/3 mile - 1/2 mile wide. The damage the whole way along, where I saw, is anywhere from 1/4 mile to approaching 1 mile wide.
When I got home this afternoon, I discovered large pieces of yellow insullation hanging from a large oak tree in our back yard. I also found several large clumps of yellow (and pink) insullation in the pastures at our neighbors' ranch (where we had sought shelter). I have really not looked around much, but I suspect I could find other debris items as well.
(Of note: Highland, AR, is where we do our shopping. As you know, this area was also hit very hard; the commercial district of this city was virtually wiped out. I have not ventured to this area yet, so I do not have any additional photos. It's about 17 miles from home, and as I understand, the damage is between 1/2 - 1 mile wide also.)
EDIT: I failed to mention that there was at least one fatality in Zion and a number of injuries, some serious.
EDIT: I thought I should post this in the discussion because I wasn't actually chasing at the time; I was under the impression that REPORTS was only for actual chase reports. If I should have posted it in REPORTS, could a mod please move it (sorry for the hassle).
CNN now reporting death toll at 54 - 30 in the state of Tennessee alone.
