Power restored to Fort Smith after weekend storm

Robert Medley, Fort Smith Times Record
Updated ·2 min read

Power has been restored to thousands of people Monday morning in Fort Smith and the Arkansas River Valley following a violent thunderstorm early Friday that brought high wind, lightning, flooding and left people affected in the region in a heat emergency.

At one point Friday, there were up to 10,000 people in Fort Smith without power. The storm hit Fort Smith at 2:30 a.m. Friday. Straight-line wind hit the Dollar General store in Roland, Oklahoma, and a tree toppled onto a man's house in Barling. No injuries were reported there.

Power lines were blown down during overnight thunderstorms in Fort Smith at S 21 Street and Dodson Avenue Friday, July 14, 2023.
Power lines were blown down during overnight thunderstorms in Fort Smith at S 21 Street and Dodson Avenue Friday, July 14, 2023.

The City of Fort Smith will offer tree debris pickup until July 28.

A small tornado hit a house in Mansfield in southern Sebastian County and damaged other homes. The National Weather Service reported it was an EF1 tornado. No injuries were reported.

In Greenwood, problems with water pumps were reported due to flooding, and city officials asked residents to conserve water. Outdoor watering was restricted to hand-held hoses.

A heat advisory was issued for noon to 9 p.m. Monday for western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.

A statement from Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. reported that all power was expected to be back on for Arkansas customers by 5 p.m. Sunday. Monday morning, the OG&E website showed zero outages for Arkansas and for eastern Oklahoma.

"Power will be restored to customers in Arkansas no later than 5 p.m., Sunday, July 16. OG&E restoration personnel are still evaluating damage from the storm in more rural and remote areas that are difficult to reach by vehicle," the statement read.

More than 20,000 people lost power in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas on July 14. Most of those were in Fort Smith and Muskogee, Okla. There were 1,300 workers who responded to outages. Equipment and power poles were damaged by trees that blew down.

Restorations are complete in time for more hot weather. The temperature Tuesday in Fort Smith will be 99 degrees and it will be 100 degrees Wednesday with higher heat indices. The actual high temperature Thursday will be 98 degrees, the National Weather Service reports.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Power is totally restored after weekend thunderstorm