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| Updated: 8/06/2012 1:53 pm |
Published: 8/05/2012 4:44 pm |
HOT SPRINGS, AR - Crews are trying to clean up downtown Hot Springs after a severe storm ripped through, breaking out windows, punching holes into buildings and lifting trees from their roots.
Peggy Goss got caught in storm and said, "I've never been so scared in my life."
Strong winds downed trees, taking out power lines and breaking out windows.
"All of a sudden the rain started and it started hailing bad,” Goss said. “We couldn't see anything. We tried to move but couldn't move the vehicle."
The Austin hotel now has a hole in the side of it. Power outages force guests to evacuate. Yellow tape marks where pieces of the building could come crashing down.
"I was screaming my head off. ‘Move! Let’s get out of this storm!’” Goss recalled. “I thought the windows were going to pop out of the vehicle it was hitting so hard."
Work crews use chain saws and dozers to clean up the streets.
Volunteer firefighter Collin Ritter says, "There's a lot of uprooted metal signs. A lot damage from winds."
One side of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute was damaged. An AC unit fell, crashing to the ground and a planter vase flew into the wall.
It's going to take quite some time before downtown Hot Springs has all the pieces put back together again.
There are reports of power being out all over the city. Police are asking people stay out of the way of the work crews trying to clean up.
