Tornado in Saline County, Arkansas

The thunderstorm that produced the tornado across Clark and Hot Spring County earlier spawned another tornado in Saline County. The tornado touched down 5 miles southeast of Benton and traveled northeastward, damaging a number of homes and downing numerous trees and power lines. As the tornado approached Shannon Hills, the tornado expanded to 0.8 mile wide. Dozens of homes were either damaged or destroyed in the area around the Shannon Hills, Vimy Ridge and Sardis communities. 10 people were killed, with most victims inside their homes when the storm hit.The tornado exhibited characteristics of F2 to F3 strength prior to moving into the Shannon Hills area. After that, the tornado reached F4 intensity as it moved across the Shannon Hills area and eventually into Pulaski County.

A tornado began northwest of Bryant and ended northwest of Alexander. The tornado caused major damage in the Hurricane Meadows subdivision, and then continued on to the northeast. Altogether, six houses were destroyed, and approximately 30 others suffered varying degrees of damage.

A tornado began on the northeast side of Benton and ended on the northwest side of Bryant. The tornado caused major damage to four houses and minor damage to 20 houses. It also traveled through the Hurricane Lake Mobile Home Park, destroying 22 mobile homes, and causing major damage to 11 mobile homes, and minor damage to 10 mobile homes. Major damage occurred at a car dealership on Interstate 30, where more than 150 vehicles were damaged, many of which had windshields or rear windows blown out. Diagonally across the interstate from the car dealership, a lumber yard suffered substantial damage.