Craighead County, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — April 3, 2025 — Residents of Lake City and Monette are beginning to pick up the pieces after a large tornado tore through both cities Wednesday night.
The National Weather Service said on Thursday it had issued a preliminary rating of EF-3 to the storms that ripped through Bay and Lake City, estimating peak winds at 150 mph. However, it said the rating is subject to change as it learns more.
No rating has been issued for Monette yet. The tornado was confirmed to have touched down on the outskirts of Bay.
No fatalities have been reported in Craighead County, although there have been reports of minor injuries, according to the Craighead County Emergency Operations Center.
Monette Mayor Bob Blankenship said the city experienced lots of structural damage and around seven homes were destroyed. The tornado entered Monette on Highway 18 and hit residential areas, as well as buildings such as First Baptist Church, Gregg Funeral Home and more.
“We’ve got a lot of homes that have damage with water leaks, roof damage, windows blown out and that type of thing,” Blankenship said. “We’re just kind of surveying what we need to do today.”
Blankenship said Monette had three minor injury reports.
With more heavy rain and flooding expected in the area in the next few days, Blankenship said the weather will make it more difficult to work, but crews from different areas are already working to assist the storm-battered community.
“We’ve got crews from different businesses in the area that’s offered to come in and help put tarps on roofs, whatever people need, board up a window, whatever,” Blankenship said. “The next three days look like it’s not going to be pretty weather to work in this, but the school has opened up their facilities for us, we have a staging area in there, and then we’ll send people out to do the things that need to be done.”
Monette has a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 p.m. until further notice, the city said in a Facebook post.
Rick Samson, one of the owners of Monette Manor, said the nursing home experienced roof and window damage, however, all of its approximately 80 residents were unharmed.
“It was pretty tense and scary because everyone was on phones and watching the TV and all that kind of stuff,” Samson said. “Everybody was pretty aware of what could happen, and then when it did hit, it was just trying to make sure everybody was safe.”
Claude Barnett, a 97-year-old WWII veteran, rode out the storm in his home of 65 years, which was damaged. Barnett was uninjured.
“I was out in the window watching it and I see trees going by. In five minutes, it’s all gone,” he said. “I didn’t get scared, I just stepped out the [door] and watched it.”
In Lake City, Mayor Cameron Tate said there were five injuries, and all had been released from the hospital. He said the city is working to clear roads and get its water system back up. Power is still out across most of the city, Tate said, and he didn’t know how quickly it would be restored.
Tate said crews would work “between the rains” as the city works to restore power and rebuild with heavy rain in the forecast for the next few days. In addition, the city has been placed under a boil order until further notice and has a curfew in place lasting from 9 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The home of Cody Ferguson, a Lake City resident, was destroyed during the storm. He and his neighbors hunkered down in his storm shelter as the storm blew over the home, which he said lasted about 45 seconds. Everyone in the shelter was unharmed.
“It was pretty intense. It was loud. That storm shelter, they don’t have a door on it, so we had all kinds of debris and stuff flying in there on us, but it was loud,” Ferguson said.
In response to the storms, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued an executive order Wednesday declaring a state of emergency for “severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding on or about April 2, 2025.”
She allocated $250,000 in funding from the Governor’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund to help lessen the costs of severe storms, per another Wednesday executive order.
Sanders also mobilized 40 Arkansas National Guardsmen in northeast Arkansas and four high-water teams to assist local authorities. The 875th Engineer Battalion in Jonesboro is providing three high-water teams and the 224th Maintenance Company in Mountain Home is deploying one team.
“The anticipated rainfall amount can prove to be challenging,” said Brig. Gen. Chad Bridges, Arkansas’ adjutant general in a news release. “In supporting the Governor’s direction, the Arkansas National Guard will assist local authorities and help Arkansans get through this.”