May 8, 2008

The city of Ava was ravaged by a rapidly moving storm that passed through the area around 6 a.m. Friday, leaving behind a path of destruction and putting most of the city in the dark for the better part of two days. The city’s single storm warning siren sounded right at 6 o’clock Friday morning, and within minutes strong winds were lashing the area. It was not until the fast moving storm had made its way through town that residents began to realize the extent of the storm that would later be classified by the National Weather Service (NWS) as an EF-0 tornado, accompanied by powerful straight-line winds. After the storm passed through the downtown area, ripping roofs off buildings, blowing out plate glass windows and uprooting trees, the NWS said the tornado touched down in the northeast part of town. An EF-0 tornado is defined as a storm 100 yards wide with maximum wind speed of 80 miles per hour, with a path less than a quarter of a mile long. The Weather Service determined that it was straight-line winds that hit the Ava square, which does not explain how the roof from the Barnes Motel building ended up on top of a house west of the motel rather than to the east, as the storm was traveling. Roofs from buildings on the north side of the Ava square were also blown directly north, landing on top of the adjacent Givans Furniture Store or in the parking lot of O’Reilly Auto Parts, two blocks away. The most evident damage on the square was to the Jean’s Healthway building on the southwest corner where the front wall of the upper floors was literally blown away from the building and left hanging above the sidewalk. Evidence of the storm first showed up west of Ava in the Plainview School area and damage was tracked northeasterly along Highway 76. Substantial damage was done along Route KK, and a number of residences along Highway 76 had trees topped or uprooted, and outbuildings damaged or destroyed. After passing through Ava, the storm continued on to the northeast, but only straight line winds were reported in the eastern part of the county. As soon as the storm passed, residents, emergency responders and utility workers moved into a recovery phase and began clearing streets, cutting trees off houses, and preparing to restore some sense of normalcy to the community. All power to the city was turned off as numerous lines were down, and some individual services were not turned back on until the middle of this week. Most electricity was back on in the city by late Saturday afternoon, however, as electric crews from as far away as Joplin, Lebanon and northern Arkansas came to help. Heart of the Ozarks Healthcare Facility received a real “blessing” according to administrator Tonya Cutbirth, when Tad Agoglia of Disaster Recovery Solutions called from northern Arkansas and said he was on his way with generators “big enough to run a hospital.” Best of all, he told Cutbirth it “wouldn’t cost her a penny.” County Emergency Management directors Ron and Teresa Tost said the equipment was here within hours, and although it was not hooked up because power was restored earlier than expected, it was a huge relief to know the equipment was available. Angie Wilkerson, director of nursing at Heart of the Ozarks, said individual generators were used to operate oxygen machines and other necessary equipment at the nursing home facility. Red Cross was in Ava before noon Friday bringing meals to emergency workers as well as residents of elderly housing units, and the Troop D Mass Care also assisted residents. Elderly residents were served breakfast, lunch and dinner on Friday, and breakfast again on Saturday morning, Teresa Tost said. The Small Business Administration has also provided assistance in the community, Ron Tost said. Electric crews from the city of Ava as well as the out-of-town departments worked almost non-stop from Friday until Saturday afternoon to get the power back on. Ten men came from Lebanon with numerous trucks, equipment and materials, as did 26 men from Underground Utilities of Fayetteville and Cabot, Ark., and 12 men from BBC Electric in Joplin. Perhaps the most amazing fact of the entire storm adventure was that no one was even slightly injured, so far anyone knows. At Red Bud Village, an elderly housing community where numerous trees were blown down, a large limb came right through the bedroom roof where the resident was sleeping, but she was able to roll out of bed when she heard the crash and was not touched by the branch. Classes at Ava Schools were obviously dismissed on Friday, but resumed on Monday, as usual. The Ava High School Alumni Banquet, scheduled for Saturday night, was held on schedule despite the fact that the school did not get power restored until about three hours before the banquet. On a personal note, offices of the Douglas County Herald were closed on Friday due to the power outage. Two large plate glass windows were also blown out and numerous shingles were ripped off the building. Across the street, the roof was blown off a section of East Side Body Shop. Despite all the damage that was done in the community, looking back folks are aware of how much worse the damage could have been. If the storm would have hit an hour later when folks were on the streets going to work and to school, there would no doubt have been multiple injuries. And if the tornado that apparently clipped the tree tops would have been on the ground when it passed through the city, entire blocks could have been wiped out. Report Storm Damage The Douglas County Emergency Management office has been told by FEMA and SEMA that residents of the community who experienced storm damage should make reports now although the area has not yet been declared for disaster. Anyone who has experienced damage from Friday’s storm should call 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA). When calling, be sure to tell them it is from the May 2 tornado. When calling, you should be prepared to give your name, address, telephone number and the type of damage incurred. Flooding does not count on this disaster.