LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe toured storm damage Monday as the National Weather Service confirmed that at least nine tornadoes struck the state Friday, continuing a deadly weather pattern that's becoming too familiar for emergency officials.
"A tornado's destruction is something to behold," Beebe said in Earle while walking past the rubble of the Earle Baptist Church. "You never get used to it."
A 10th tornado may have been part of the system that struck Damascus and Greers Ferry, said John Lewis, a senior forecaster for the weather service in North Little Rock.
Meteorologists have not yet determined if the towns were struck by one tornado or two that followed a continuous path about 45 miles, Lewis said.
"This is very unusual," Lewis said of the series of storms, tornadoes and floods that have devastated the state at least once a month this year. "The last time we've had any storms like this was in 1982," Lewis said. "Add in the [March 3 and 6] snowstorms and this is a 50-year event type of thing."
In Friday's storms, seven died and at least 23 were injured.
On Monday, Conway County Coroner Richard Neal identified two killed as Dan McNair Sr. and his son Michael McNair, both of Center Ridge. Neal did not know their ages.
McNair's stepson, Austin Reid, 17, of Center Ridge was in serious condition at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock on Monday afternoon, a spokesman at the hospital said.
Eliana Chacon, 15, of Siloam Springs died Friday when straight-line winds of 70 mph toppled a tree onto her mobile home while she was sleeping. Authorities first believed a tornado struck the Benton County town but revised that finding Monday.
"There was debris north and northeast of Siloam Springs and no convergence of damage," said Pete Snyder, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. "It indicated there was no rotation of the winds."
Beebe toured Greers Ferry, Earle and Carlisle by helicopter Monday and walked through the harder hit areas of the towns.
Later, Beebe and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management Director David Maxwell drove through Carlisle and inspected the destruction.
The governor quickly rebuffed the idea that federal and state assistance for residents affected by this year's storms could be depleted since there have been so many.
"We'll take care of our people," he said. "If we've got to move something around, if we've got to do something different, we'll take care of our people."
"We get stretched thin, but whatever it takes, we'll respond," he said.
Federal storm-assessment teams have not yet toured all the damaged areas because they're waiting for county emergency officials to conduct preliminary surveys, said Renee Presslar, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
Echoing Beebe, Presslar said the assessment teams were "stretched out pretty thin," but added, "we'll do whatever it takes to help people."
Federal Emergency Management Agency teams were in Conway County on Monday, said Brandon Baker, director of that county's Office of Emergency Management. A tornado destroyed 15 houses and mobile homes there and damaged 40 more structures, he said.
In Earle, residents cleared streets of downed trees, and utility companies restrung power lines.
Earle residents were warned about 8 minutes before the twister hit, Mayor Paul Green said.
"We're lucky no one was killed," he said. "We were very lucky."
Donald Stewart, who lives on Mayfair Street just northwest of the destroyed 106-year-old Earle Baptist Church, said he heard the twister approach at about 3:30 p.m. Friday.
"It was a big ol' roar," he said. "It sounded like a combine coming through your backyard."
Earle Baptist Church pastor Steve Bailey was in Mobile, Ala., on Friday when he received a telephone call from a friend who said a tornado was bearing down on Earle.
"He said, 'It hit the clinic,' which is next to the church," Bailey said the caller told him. "Then he said, 'It got the church.'
"When I came back here, I saw the church wasn't here anymore," Bailey said.
The twister also hit Earle Industries, a factory that employs 80 people, and destroyed the eastern half of the building.
The tornado scattered twisted metal from the building's wreckage 10 miles to the north; shards were found in fields along Arkansas 149, Crittenden County Judge Melton Holt said.
Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the state will attempt to provide assistance through tax incentives to help the Earle factory rebuild.
"Obviously, we want them to stay in the state," he said.
Red Cross teams set up in the Earle High School parking lot and were feeding 600 peoplea day. An official said they expected to remain in the town for about 10 days.
The Arkansas Rice Depot is also working to provide supplies to tornado victims and is seeking donations. It said in a Monday news release that groups in need could call (501) 565-8855.
More than 500 people remained without power Monday, said an official with the Craighead Electric Cooperative Corp. The utility company expects to restore all power to the Crittenden County town by Saturday.
In Carlisle, the city's fire station - a modest iron structure across from City Hall - was warped by the winds Friday.
Mayor Ray Glover said it will cost $200,000 to rebuild the station.
When storm sirens sounded there Friday afternoon, students of the town's school were ushered into safe rooms - reinforced hallways built to withstand the winds of inclement weather. The storm missed the schools, but the rooms provided a sense of security, local officials said.
By Monday, Carlisle's duskto-dawn curfew had been lifted, and crews were working fast to clean up the mess.
A burn site was set up outside of town, and Glover said nearby towns with heavy equipment were coming in to help remove debris.
"We're fortunate it didn't wipe the whole town out," he said as he waited for the governor and his entourage to touch down at the town's airport in two Black Hawk helicopters.
Beebe quipped that emergency management officials knew each other's cellular telephone numbers by memory because of the onslaught of storms this year.
"We're getting good at this," he said of disaster responses. "FEMA is getting a lot of experience in dealing with Arkansas."
Beebe, who has criticized FEMA's responses in the past, said Monday that he was pleased with how quickly they are working with state officials now.
They may have even more teamwork ahead of them Wednesday, Lewis at the weather service in North Little Rock said.
Another cold front from the Plains is expected to push into the state late Wednesday, spawning more severe weather.
"We're looking at another round similar to Friday's," he said.
Serious storms are expected to develop particularly in western Arkansas, he said.
"This is unusual," he said of the weather. "When it's all said and done, I'm sure long-term climate predictors will be doing studies on Arkansas weather."
Front Section, Pages 1, 6 on 05/06/2008