Over 3 dozen tornadoes reported amid 3-day severe weather outbreak
One survivor described an EF2 tornado that ripped through his Louisiana community as “horrific,” but he explained what helped get him and his family to safety.
Several homes were damaged as severe weather tore through the Southeast late Monday night. AccuWeather’s Bill Wadell reports live from the neighborhoods hardest hit.
A multi-day severe weather outbreak came to an end Wednesday night over the United States after spawning nearly three dozen tornado reports across several states in the South and Midwest and triggering widespread excessive rainfall.
A total of 43 tornado reports were tallied by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center from Monday through Wednesday as severe storms caused destruction across a large swath of the country from Arkansas and Louisiana to South Carolina.
One of the hardest hit areas was Jonesboro, Louisiana, where an EF2 tornado with estimated peak winds of 122 mph winds touched down on Monday, leaving at least three people injured.
AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell traveled to Jonesboro, where the Moffett family had taken shelter from the tornado after receiving a weather alert from the AccuWeather app.
"Before we could even get to the bathroom door, the wind was already blowing through the house, and I turned to look," Greg Moffett told Wadell. "You could see light coming through the ceiling."
A section of the roof had torn free, so he took shelter and braced his back against the bathroom door, holding it closed. Kelley Moffett rushed their son and daughter to shelter in the bathtub.
"When it came through, she's (her daughter) in the bottom of the bathtub, she's screaming and I'm laying on top of her," Kelley Moffett said. "It was so loud you couldn't even hear her scream. It was horrible. I've never -- we've been here like I said 26 years and I've never been through anything like this."
What the tornado didn't sweep up, the rain waterlogged with no roof to protect the interior. Greg Moffett estimated the storm had flooded his home with at least 6 inches of water. However, for all the damage, he added that if it hadn't been for the alert from the AccuWeather app, he wouldn't have sheltered in time.
"I'm very grateful," Greg Moffett said. "If it wouldn't have been for that, I'd still have been sitting on that couch in there not knowing what was going on."
With all the damage and debris scattered about, Cliff Magee, the safety and health specialist at the Westrock Paper Mill in Hodge, Louisiana, just a few miles northwest of Jonesboro, told Wadell that employees from the mill were doing what they could to help the community following the disaster. Taking up chainsaws and sledgehammers, they began clearing trees and debris, and a second team was preparing to bring food to the community.
"While you see these guys out here working, we do have a crew that will be coming in and they'll be grilling and feeding people within the area because obviously, they're without power and things to provide for themselves," Magee said. "We're going to be flipping burgers and doing what we can to feed the people in the area."
Another destructive tornado that struck on Monday was rated as an EF1 tornado and left damage behind in Jessieville, Arkansas. At least 14 homes were damaged along with multiple commercial and local school district buildings in the community, which is located north of Hot Springs in Garland County.
Damage at Jessieville High School after severe weather stormed through Garland County, Arkansas, on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. (SevereStudios.com/Jordan Hall)
Drone footage from the Jessieville High School's football field showed a scoreboard that had been torn apart by the winds and a yellow field goal with one of its arms snapped off, lying on the ground below. Smaller debris lay scattered across the field, save for two rows of bleachers that had been flipped and dragged across the grass at an angle. On the surrounding track, one of the light posts had snapped at the center, the lights shattering across the ground near a row of fallen trees.
Trees and power lines were toppled over as school was in session, according to the Garland County Sheriff's Office, and two minor injuries were reported by the school's superintendent. All students and staff were accounted for.
Two wind reports -- in Norphlet and Montrose, Arkansas -- were listed as possible tornadoes. In the latter location, families had been reported trapped in homes due to downed trees and power lines, and one tractor-trailer had been overturned. Structural damage was reported on Highway 82.
Farther north, the same system that struck the South churned up at least seven confirmed tornadoes in central Illinois, according to the NWS. This was the greatest number of January tornadoes to occur in one day in Illinois since Jan. 7, 1989, when eight tornadoes occurred. One of the tornadoes, produced near the city of Maroa, threw a grain bin into U.S. Highway 51 north of the city, and left debris that was visible underneath the storm's funnel.
Survey crews have confirmed that an EF1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 100 mph struck just southeast of Gibson City, located about 56 miles northeast of Lincoln, Illinois.
Outside of the tornado threat, flooding was a widespread concern Wednesday in Arkansas where 24 sections of U.S. and state highways were closed due to high water following heavy rainfall from Monday through Tuesday morning. The list included portions of State Highway 37 in Jackson County, State Highway 388 and State Highway 199 in Lincoln County, State Highway 138 in Drew County and State Highway 160 and U.S. Highway 63 in Bradley County.
A stretch of State Highway 144 westbound was also closed in Chicot County due to downed powerlines on Jan. 2, 2023.
By Tuesday morning, flood reports had spanned from eastern Texas through northwestern Louisiana and into Kentucky in the span of 24 hours.
At least 4.99 inches of rain fell in 48 hours over Greenville, Kentucky, where the fire department told AccuWeather on Tuesday that it had responded to 15 water-related incidents, including stranded motorists and water rescues from residents, between 4:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., local time. No injuries were reported.
Rainfall totals were the highest in Arkansas, however, where DeWitt, located in the eastern portion of the state, recorded 8.55 inches of rain over 12 hours Monday night. Taylor Rodriguez, the EMA director of Arkansas County, where DeWitt is located, told KARK 4 News and Fox 16 News Meteorologist Joel Young that roads were flooded in and around the city, including Highway 130 and U.S. Route 165 on both sides of the town.
Other locations in the state such as Reyno and Star City recorded rainfall totals of over 6 inches over the same span of time.
By Tuesday morning, Cane Creek State Park in Lincoln County had a 24-hour total of 7.30 inches of rain -- the largest single-day total at the site since 1998, according to the NWS.
Reporting by AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
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