RISON - Straight line winds estimated at 85 mph is what the National Weather Service believes caused of some widespread damage to businesses in downtown Rison last Wednesday night, March 1, according to local officials.
While there were no reports of any injuries from the storm, there was extensive damage to roofs on at least three buildings in Rison's downtown business district.
Perhaps the most significant damage appeared to be a full metal structure that was covering a building in the 100 block of Main Street, It appeared that the structure was pulled off its foundation and tossed over two other buildings before landing in the parking lot of Gateway Bank.
The structure came crashing down on a pickup truck with Tim Carter of Rison and his dog inside. "It was spooky. I haven't ever been that scared in my life," Carter told Little Rock television station Channel 11. Carter said the ordeal only lasted about two seconds.
The mangled mass of steel framework and sheet metal also included chunks of concrete and brick. Rison Mayor Charles Roberts said they discovered a section of concrete and brick measuring about eight foot long and 16 inches high in the debris as they moved it off the Gateway Bank parking lot Thursday morning.
Two other downtown businesses also lost their roofs, the Rally Networks (Cleveland County Telephone) office on Pine Street and the Burning Light Church building on Second Street. The metal roofs on both buildings were nearly completely peeled from the structure. Some of the sheet metal from the Rally Networks building ended up across Pine Street next to the FBT Bank entrance. Sheet metal from the church was scattered across Second Street and into an empty lot on the other side.
R&L Hardware also had some of the tin blown off some its storage buildings located along Pine Street while the Rison Pharmacy sign was blown off its base.
Roberts reported that trees had fallen ont...
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