POPE COUNTY, Ark. — The line of storms that came through early Tuesday morning brought heavy downpours and gusty winds. It caused some flooding, downed trees, and power lines. Even a few central Arkansas schools made the call to close.
Pope County saw a lot of damage and one family in Hector saw the worst of it.
David Coffman is a disabled veteran who fought in Vietnam.
He has to use a wheelchair after having a stroke a few years ago.
He was in the bedroom he shares with his 90-year-old mother, Marjorie Coffman Utley, who looks after him, when half of the roof fell down.
She had to get him out of the bed.
"I get up real early and he's sleeping, so I'll be putting out his medicines," said Utley. "I was at the kitchen sink and my weather alarm went out in here and it was giving tornado warnings for this area and I said, 'Well geez, it's not even thundering or lighting or anything.'"
She said she turned from the sink when she heard a loud boom.
"When I turned, I saw my whole house going that way. It hit that fast," Utley said.
It was only seconds after she rescued him from the bed when even more of the roof fell down where he was sleeping.
"It just blew the roof off and it was raining so hard, it broke this sky light," said Utley.
Her power went out.
She had to use a lamp to flag down emergency crews driving up the road.
Entergy said there's over 1,793 homes without power in the area, but with multiple crews in the area, they're expecting power to be back by 10 p.m. They're anticipating ice later on this week and preparing just in case.
Utley said her family had the house built in 1976 and she's saddened by the damage, but the most important thing is that they're okay.
"As much damage as it is, it's just a miracle that we made it. So that's amazing. We're alive," said Utley.