EF4 Tornado — Franklin, Arkansas

2011-05-24 · near Peter Pender, Franklin, Arkansas

Event narrative

This is the third of six segments of this tornado. The tornado snapped or uprooted a number of large trees as it moved back into Franklin County from Logan County. The damage path widened considerably to about 3/4 of a mile as the tornado moved north of Highway 398 and approached Etna. In and near Etna, the tornado destroyed a number of permanent homes, destroyed mobile homes, destroyed a metal building, destroyed a number of outbuildings, snapped numerous power poles, and snapped or uprooted many large trees. One of the three tornado-related fatalities in Franklin County occurred when a double-wide mobile home was destroyed in Etna. At least six serious injuries occurred in this area and several of those were critical.

Several well-built, wood-framed permanent homes were destroyed in Etna with only a small amount of debris remaining on the foundation. Trees were debarked in this area and the ground was scoured by debris. A well-built, two-story, steel-framed home northeast of Etna on Highway 309 was also destroyed with only a few interior walls remaining on the first floor. Two people survived in the kitchen pantry as the home was destroyed around them. Maximum estimated wind speed in this segment of the tornado based on this damage was about 170 mph.

The tornado continued into Logan County, Arkansas, at 1.25 miles wide.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms developed along a dry line over central Oklahoma during the afternoon hours. Very unstable air and strong wind shear east of the dry line supported supercell thunderstorm structures, which persisted as the storms moved into northwestern Arkansas late in the evening. These severe storms produced tornadoes, large hail, and damaging downburst wind across portions of northwestern Arkansas. One of the tornadoes was especially intense, resulting in considerable damage to several towns as well as three fatalities in Franklin County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.3182, -93.9044)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 313004. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.