HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE, Ark. — When an EF-2 tornado ripped through Hot Springs Village Thursday night, it did a lot of damage to the area.
Many trees and power lines are down, and crews are working to clean the aftermath.
"I couldn't see any obvious damage up here," Jones Financial Management Owner Gale Smith said. "I thought, 'Well, we're OK.' I got here in daylight this morning, and we weren't OK."
When Smith arrived at his business in Hot Springs Village, Thursday night and Friday morning looked very different.
"We've got the front window knocked out here," Smith said. "We got our sign torn up down there, and we have about a 16-by-16-foot hole, just a complete hole in the back side of the building."
On top of that, he also has water damage.
"Most of our tax return stuff and everything else was not damaged," Smith said. "But there was one area that got wet."
Even with all of that, Smith said others experienced worse.
"Trees down everywhere," Smith said. "A lot of cars damaged and houses damaged and so forth."
That's why a command post has been set up inside the village, full of first responders from multiple agencies.
"We spent all night cutting trees and clearing roads for our first responders to reach our members," Hot Springs Village General Manager Kelly Hale said. "That was our first priority, as we were getting 911 calls to check on our members and make sure they're OK."
Hale said, thankfully, there were no significant injuries, but they're still checking on each member in the area.
"Our average age here in the village is 67," Hale said. "We have an opportunity to really take care of our people here. It's a family and it's a community that everybody looks over one another."
Even surrounding cities and counties jumped in to help.
"This community works together pretty good," Smith said.
A shelter is also set up at Balboa Baptist Church inside the village for those who need it.
Hale said they plan to contact state and federal officials to try to get assistance with the cleanup.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management (ADEM) announced on Friday that it deployed a team to Hot Springs Village to assist local agencies in dealing with the tornado's aftermath.
According to ADEM, they are working closely with local agencies to "coordinate responses and assist as they evaluate the damage" to affected homes.