JOIN USThe high-powered storms arrived as forecast last night and early today, just days after a massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri town of Joplin and killed 122 people. After killing two people in Kansas and five in Oklahoma, they continued their trek east into Arkansas before petering out.
At least two people died as the storms ripped through Arkansas, the state's emergency spokesman Tommy Jackson said. One person died after a tornado ripped the tiny western Arkansas community of Denning shortly after midnight Wednesday. Another person died in an area called Bethlehem.
Just outside Denning, winery owner Eugene Post listened to the tornado from his porch. He saw the lights flicker, as the storms yanked power from the community.
"I didn't see anything," Post, 83, said early today. "I could hear it real loud though. ... It sounded like a train or two or three going by."
Hours earlier, several tornadoes struck Oklahoma City and its suburbs during the Tuesday night rush hour, killing at least five people and injuring at least 60 others, including three children who were in critical condition, authorities said.
Some residents said they had been warned about the impending weather for days and were watching television or listening to the radio so they would know when to take cover.