UPDATE
Entergy Arkansas Inc. says it expects most customers who lost power as the result of Wednesday's severe weather to have power restored by late Thursday evening, but it could be late Friday before any remaining outages are resolved.
Around 1,981 customers lost power when the storms came through unexpectedly Wednesday at around 4:45 p.m. Around 1,069 were still without power Thursday morning, said J. Paul Brewster, Entergy's customer service manager.
"We continue to restore services with local resources and will have additional outside resources arriving around noon today," Brewster said Thursday morning in an email.
"We anticipate having most customers restored by late this evening with any remaining customers restored by late tomorrow."
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Around 1,800 Entergy Arkansas Inc. customers were without service after a severe thunderstorm moved through Garland County, with several reports of damage and injuries in the Lake Hamilton area Wednesday afternoon.
Garland County Sheriff Mike McCormick said most of the damage in the county was concentrated in the Marion Anderson Road area, noting, "We are doing welfare checks on residences with damage."
Under Sheriff Jason Lawrence was observed at the scene directing deputies to go door-by-door in the Bon Air Point area to check on residents' welfare.
McCormick initially said he wasn't aware of any major injuries yet as of shortly after 5:30 p.m., but deputies were still canvassing the area. A short time later, he reported one individual was being transported after a tree fell on his house in the Bon Air Point area.
In addition to checking each house in the damaged areas off Marion Anderson Road, deputies were also stopping cars of residents arriving home to get a list of names of the occupants.
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"It allows us to check the house off as OK," McCormick said. "Also, to establish a degree of accountability within the area."
Much of the damage was concentrated in the 1200 to 2000 block of Marion Anderson Road, in the area of James Garland Road, Bon Air Point, Windy Point, Earl's Point and along Highway 7 south in the Lake Hamilton area.
Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Omar Cervantes said most of the damage in the city was to the south, including areas in Lakeshore, Temperance Hill and Pretti Point. A transformer blew on Pretti Point and sparked a fire at one point.
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Cervantes said he didn't know of any major injuries, just mainly trees and power lines down throughout those areas, all mainly out Highway 7 south around Lake Hamilton.
Entergy was listing a restoration time of noon today for areas damaged in the severe weather. Many of the outages started around 4:47 p.m. Wednesday, when the severe weather moved through the county.
"Due to the thunderstorms along with the high winds that have and continue to move through the area we are experiencing numerous outages," Entergy's outage website says.
"Entergy personnel are working to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. The estimated time of restoration could change as all damage assessments are completed or if other storm activity results in additional outages."
