DALLAS COUNTY, Arkansas — As the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl moved across Arkansas Monday night into Tuesday morning, some southern parts of the state were hit hard.
In Dallas County, the small town of Sparkman saw trees uprooted, laying across streets, and falling onto power lines.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service was in Sparkman to evaluate the damage.
"We're out here trying to figure out where these tornadoes occurred," Meteorologist Dylan Cooper said. "How strong each of those were, and then we'll go back and compile all that data and be able to write storm summaries for this event."
Cooper said that while he was still waiting to make an official judgment, he had an idea of the nature of the storms that came through.
"Typically, with tropical systems, we get a lot of weak tornadoes that develop,” Cooper said.
Weaker, but still dangerous.
In fact, Cooper said these types of events can often be just as destructive because they form quickly.
"It doesn't mean that these tornadoes should be taken less seriously than the larger tornadoes,” Cooper said. “Unfortunately, with situations like this it's hard to get those warnings out on time because of how quick these circulations develop."
These "weaker" tornadoes still managed to uproot trees across the county, and the effects could continue even after the storm has passed.
We saw firsthand evidence of this while preparing Cooper to be interviewed; a tree snapped and fell onto a power line across the street.
"Even from these weaker tornadoes, you imagine a tornado felling a large pine tree, and it goes through the house,” Cooper said. “That could be a much different story than we would expect with the type of damage we've seen today."
Cleanup efforts were in full swing in and around Sparkman early Tuesday and will likely continue, especially if trees weakened by the storm continue to fall.