LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Heavy rains and storms coming through central Arkansas Monday afternoon resulted in downed trees and thousands left without power.

Hail and strong winds were the biggest threats with the storms. The National Weather Service reported that there were radar-indicated wind gusts of over 40 miles per hour and small hail in the storm.

That leads to trees falling and powerlines coming down. A tree fell in the 600 block of Napa Valley Road in Little Rock, and another tree fell into a house in the 11000 block of West Stoney Point Court.

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued for Hot Springs, Jacksonville & just south of East End most recently. Parts of Pulaski County were under severe thunderstorm warnings, but west Little Rock and Little Rock metro were not under warnings today.

The first severe thunderstorm warning was issued at 2 p.m., but special weather statements were issued before then starting around 12:30 p.m. 

The strongest wind gust measured was 41mph out of the Hot Springs Airport from around 2:15 p.m. Radar estimates of wind gusts were 40 mph+ from these storms in general.

The severe thunderstorm warnings that have been issued so far today have been for hail up to quarter size and wind gusts of up to 60 mph. Based on local storm reports so far, we’ve seen 40 mph wind gusts and 1/4″ hail (pea size). 

Other reports:

  • Trees & power lines down at MLK Bypass & Central Ave on the south side of Hot Springs at 2:30 p.m.
  • 1.02″ of rain in one hour from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. out of Hot Springs Airport
  • Power lines on a car with someone still in it. No injuries were reported. 2:40 p.m. in Hot Springs.
  • LR Air Force Base saw small hail at 2:30 p.m.
  • Pea-size hail in Little Rock at the Arkansas Department of Agriculture building at 2 p.m.
  • Trees/power lines down in Egypt (Craighead Co) ~1:45 p.m. off Hwy 91
  • Houses struck by lightning at Rivercrest Drive & S. Izard (Walton Heights)
  • A Business on 12100 block W. Markham struck by lightning
  • Trees/power lines down 600 Block of Napa Valley Drive & tree on house 11600 block Stoney Point Ct. 2 p.m.
  • 1/4″ size hail Hot Springs Airport 2:15 p.m.
  • Temperatures hit 96°F out of the Little Rock Airport at 12:18 p.m. and have cooled to 79°F as of 4 p.m.

According to data from PowerOutage.us, outages in Pulaski County are showing 5,241, Jefferson with 605 and Columbia County with 1,633. Overall, state outages as of 8:30 p.m. are at 10,158.

Crews said they are currently working toward restoring power throughout all the affected areas.

Anyone looking to monitor power outages can check with the following maps.

Be alerted as soon as severe weather coverage begins by downloading the Arkansas Storm Team app from the App Store or on Google Play.