Knoxville, Flat Rock Damaged By Storms; EF2 Tornado Is Confirmed Near Scranton
Photo: David Sibley (right) and Karla Schulte clear debris from a fallen tree at their home on Private Road 1597 near Knoxville. The severe weather early Sunday morning caused the tree to fall on a power line, resulting in an electrical outage in the area.
Residents and businesses in the eastern areas of Johnson County experienced property damage and downed trees as the result of thunderstorms that passed through Johnson County on June 17-18.
According to the National Weather Service in Little Rock, an EF2 tornado was confirmed by radar near Scranton in Logan County. The tornado destroyed poultry houses, damaged barns and uprooted or snapped trees that fell on houses and cars.
According to Klay Rowbotham, deputy director of the Johnson County Department of Emergency Management, the storms felled numerous trees throughout the county, blocking several roads until they could be cleared by the volunteer fire departments, the county road department and the state highway department. The worst of the damage appears to have been in the Knoxville and Flat Rock areas.
“We had at least one house in the Flat Rock area that sustained damage from a tree falling on it and there appears to be several other homes that also had trees fall on them, but we have not received any reports of damage yet,” Rowbotham said.
Rowbotham also reported one residence in the Flat Rock area lost half of its metal roof, while another residence was damaged from a tree falling on it and also had two barns damaged. One of the barns lost most of its roofing and the other barn lost part of its wall, causing a partial roof collapse.
A shed under construction in the area south of Knoxville was completely destroyed.
“At least one carport south of Knoxville was flipped over and damaged,” Rowbotham said. “There was one chicken house south of Knoxville that appeared to have part of its roof damaged but no confirmed reports of the extent of the damage. The large commercial building at Highway 64 and Highway 333 in Knoxville appears to have sustained significant roof damage.”
The storm also caused power outages in the area. As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, June 19, the Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative reported 54 residents without power, mostly in the Knoxville area, while OG&E reported 108 residents without power.
Rowbotham stated at least six power poles were confirmed broken in Knoxville and Flat Rock, though he suspects there are more.
