YELL COUNTY, Ark. — On Sunday night, strong storms swept through Arkansas and left behind a significant amount of damage throughout various parts of the state.
One of those hard-hit areas that were damaged by the storms was Yell County.
County Judge Jeff Gilkey explained how right now thousands of people have been without power.
"Last night, we had over 5,000 people without power, and the last time I checked, we're down to 1,700," Judge Gilkey explained.
However, the damage doesn't stop there. Most of the outages were caused by downed trees and power lines in the community.
"We had power poles snap, we had trees down, trees on homes and businesses. It's going to be a long road to clean everything up over the next few weeks," Judge Gilkey said.
With so many county roads and homes covered in debris from the storms, Judge Gilkey said that their phones haven't stopped ringing.
"We've been busy, the office of emergency management has been busy. Our 911 folks have been real busy taking calls of roads blocked, but everybody's handled it very well," Judge Gilkey added.
He explained how fortunately there have been no reports of injuries or deaths.
Though the storm damage in Yell County will take a while to clean up, the first step in the clean-up process is just assessing how much damage was caused.
"Our emergency management office is pulling everybody to see how many homes have been damaged and see if there's just any possible opportunities for family individual assistance," he said.
As crews continue their recovery efforts, Judge Gilkey said it's best to abide by all safety precautions during the cleanup process.
"Don't approach a power line [that is] down. If you've got a tree down and you think the power is out still, stay away from it till Entergy comes and clears the lines," Judge Gilkey added.