F4 Tornado — Izard, Arkansas

1996-04-14 · near Sylamore, Izard, Arkansas

Wider weather episode

The Stone County tornado moved into Izard County at Sylamore at 739 pm CDT. The tornado destroyed several cabins. Luckily, the cabins were evacuated before the tornado arrived. Just east of the cabins, the tornado moved into a small subdivision where several homes were damaged and one destroyed. Two occupants in the destroyed home were thrown several hundred feet and killed. The storm continued to track northeastward along Highway 9, where isolated damage was noted. The tornado reached Melbourne around 800 pm CDT, damaging or destroying a number of homes and businesses. A Ford dealership was destroyed with a number of new cars totalled. A housing project and local community college were also damaged in Melbourne. The tornado continued northeast toward the town of Franklin and then lifted 3 miles southeast of Horseshoe Bend. Some downed trees were the only noted damage along the last few miles of the tornado's path. 30 people sustained minor injuries from the storm.Damage along the track of the tornado was mostly F3. However, some damage was consistant with an F4 rating. Initial estimates place the amount of damage at $5,000,000.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.9300, -92.1000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5543482. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.