Mayor announces city-wide curfew due to power outages

TUCKERMAN, AR (KAIT) - Monday afternoon storms hit hard in a couple of Region 8 counties, even causing the mayor of Tuckerman to announce a city-wide curfew.

Mayor David Dixon told Region 8 News the city will be enforcing a curfew from Monday at 11 p.m. to Tuesday at 6 a.m.

Dixon said the main reason behind the decision is to cut down on the possibility of loitering and vandalism while the city is still without power.

Meanwhile officials in Randolph County are reporting wind damage after a storm Monday afternoon.

According to Randolph County OEM Brandon Graham, the Randolph County Sheriff's Office has received calls of wind damage primarily on the east side of town.

Graham said at least one build sustained damage, but crews are still accessing the extent of the damage.

According to Graham, some people are still without power, but the majority of the county has been restored.

There have been reports of tree damage on Thomasville Road and Olive Road in Pocahontas.

No injuries have been reported.

Just south in Jackson County, Jackson County OEM Director Don Ivie said he is currently accessing the damage in the town of Tuckerman.

According to Ivie, it is pretty widespread, with multiple trees on top of homes and reports of roof damage.

Terry Watson lives in a home on East Main Street that a tree fell on. Watson was home alone at the time of the storm and ran to the bathroom to take cover.

"The house was just shaking and rain was coming out of the ceiling all down in the floor," Watson said. "As you can see, it did lots of damage but I'm blessed to be alive so that's the main thing."

Ivie said a building at Bennett Lumber Company was heavily damaged, and that the front windows, including the frames, were blown out of the Old Bank of Tuckerman.

Mayor David Dixon said it was a short period of time, but it caused major damage.

"We've got utility poles broken, power lines down, huge trees, trees that have been here for fifty years that are down," Dixon said. "It had a lot of force to it."

Several crews with the city, the county, and Arkansas Baptist State Convention Disaster Relief are already working on cleanup, using chainsaws to move downed trees that are blocking roads.

According to David Burnette with Entergy Arkansas, approximately 876 people suffered outages caused by the storm. Work to restore power back will begin Tuesday morning.

Dixon also said the Arkansas Department of Corrections will bring a group of inmates over Tuesday to help with cleanup on public property.

Region 8 News also reached out the Jackson County Dispatch, we're told there are no injuries to report in Jackson County, but dispatch has received calls of trees down and windows blown out.

Region 8 News will have more information as details emerge. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for up to the minute updates.

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