The National Weather service confirms an EF-2 tornado touched down in Calhoun County at the Arkansas Fire Academy Thursday. Right now teams are still investigating whether a second tornado also hit the area.
Southern Arkansas slammed by Thursday’s storms. Buildings ripped apart, trucks tossed around and trees toppled over.
The Arkansas Fire Academy, the hardest hit place in Calhoun County. A $100,000 engine bay, destroyed. The truck inside, worth $300,000. They'll have to be checked out before they're put back in rotation for training.
No one in the county was hurt. "We're thankful for that," Tony Rinehart said.
Tony Rinehart with the County’s emergency management team is used to dealing with disasters. Thursday’s tornado is no exception.
"A lot of trees down, some roofs received damage, a lot of shingles blown off, some structural damage," Rinehart.
That’s the case throughout the county. Especially a few minutes up the road at SAU Tech.
"My only car! My only car! Oh Lord!" Evelia Valencia said, she just paid off her car.
"Now, I don't have no money, no job and no car. This is terrible. Why me?" She exclaimed.
She was inside looking for a job when a tree cam crashing down. "If I get hired, I won't even be able to come to work. And, I don't have no transportation even to go to my church."
Back at the fire academy no one knows when classes can start again.
Rinehart says two miles away, across the county line in Ouachita County, the winds ripped apart 14 mobile homes. "We need sunshine in Calhoun County," Rinehart said.
