Tornado Outbreak of April 27, 2014

A series of tornadoes struck central Arkansas on the evening of April 27, 2014, killing sixteen people and causing extensive damage, particularly in Vilonia (Faulkner County).

The first of five twisters to hit the state on April 27, 2014, formed about five miles west of Ferndale (Pulaski County) at 7:06 p.m. and killed three people in the Brush Mountain Trail area just east of Paron (Saline County) off Kanis Road before heading toward Faulkner County, crossing Lake Maumelle and the Arkansas River. The tornado knocked trucks and cars off the road as it crossed Interstate 40 and smashed into Mayflower (Faulkner County), where three people were killed. Several stores along Highway 365 in Mayflower were “severely damaged,” and dozens of recreational vehicles were destroyed at Mayflower RV, as were several homes in the River Plantation subdivision. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission would remove more than 627 tons of debris left by the storm from Lake Conway.

In Vilonia, which had suffered four fatalities in a tornado almost exactly three years earlier, the tornado reached the status of a “high end” EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with winds in the range of 166 to 200 miles per hour. The winds devastated a subdivision and hefted a 58,000-pound intermodal shipping container onto the roof of an intermediate school that was under construction, destroying the building. Eight people were killed in Vilonia that night, and a ninth victim was added when an injured pregnant woman from the town suffered a miscarriage.

The tornado continued into White County, where a woman was killed at El Paso (White County). The storm then dissipated, around an hour after its initial touchdown, after cutting a nearly three-quarter-mile-wide path of destruction for 41.3 miles.

That twister “recycled” at 8:16 p.m. and set down near Center Hill (White County), packing 125 to 135 mph winds for 7.3 miles and destroying a mobile home while damaging several homes. A smaller tornado, with winds from 70 to 80 mph, touched down at Steprock (White County) at 8:38 p.m. and traveled 1.6 miles.

A fourth tornado set down at Velvet Ridge (White County) at 8:40 p.m. and carried 90 to 100 mph winds for 5.3 miles to Denmark (White County). The last twister of the outbreak, with similar winds to the fourth, landed at Pleasant Plains (Independence County) and traveled about three-quarters of a mile before dissipating. By the time the storm exited Arkansas, 193 people were injured, in addition to the sixteen fatalities. The storm system also caused flooding in Randolph, Sharp, and Independence counties. Around 3,000 homes in three counties were “left uninhabitable.”

The same storm system killed two people in southeastern Iowa, killed one in Oklahoma, and destroyed 100 buildings and injured twenty-five people in Baxter Springs, Kansas.

Governor Mike Beebe declared Faulkner, Pulaski, and White counties as state disaster areas in the aftermath of the tornado outbreak and asked President Barack Obama to grant federal disaster status for Faulkner County. Obama, who would visit survivors in Vilonia on May 7, 2014, granted the request; the federal status was later expanded to include Pulaski, White, and Randolph counties.

For additional information:
Carroll, Scott. “Mayflower Residents Confront the Damage, Snags in Clean Up.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 29, 2014, p. 6A. Online at https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/apr/29/mayflower-residents-confront-damage-snags-20140429/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Day, Chad, and Claudia Lauer. “Dazed Residents of Vilonia Again Feeling the Loss—‘Just, there was nothing.’” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 29, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/apr/29/dazed-residents-vilonia-again-feeling-los-20140429/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Day, Chad, and Debra Hale-Shelton. “Obama Tours Storm Ruin—Nation Is with You, He Asserts to Victims.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 8, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/may/08/obama-tours-state-s-storm-ruin-20140508/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Hale-Shelton, Debra. “Deaths Go to 16 as Baby Joins Toll—Tornado Yields Miscarriage.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 6, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/may/06/deaths-go-16-baby-joins-toll-20140506/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Heard, Kenneth. “Tornado Deaths Reach 15—Day after, State Takes Inventory of Damage.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 29, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/apr/29/tornado-deaths-reach-15-20140429/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Heard, Kenneth, and Cathy Frye. “States Killer Tornado Rated an EF4—Winds Close to 200 mph near Vilonia.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 1, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/may/01/states-killer-tornado-rated-ef4-20140501/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Heard, Kenneth, and Chad Day. “Major Disaster Status Declared—County Will Get Federal Aid; Loss of Homes Put at 3,000.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 30, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/apr/30/major-disaster-status-declared-20140430/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Heard, Kenneth, and Debra Hale-Shelton. “Winds Tossed Cars Hundreds of Yards—Twister Path Jagged, Power up and Down.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 2, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/may/02/winds-tossed-cars-hundreds-yards-20140502/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Lauer, Claudia, and Chad Day. “Twister-hit Businesses Take Stock.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 2, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/may/02/twister-hit-businesses-take-stock-20140502/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Marshall, Timothy P., John Robinson, and Larry Tanner. “Damage Survey of the Mayflower-Vilonia Tornado.” American Meteorological Society, November 6, 2014. https://ams.confex.com/ams/27SLS/webprogram/Paper254346.html (accessed March 20, 2025).

Musa, Azia, and Jeannie Roberts. “Deadly Tornado Slams State—Fatalities Verified in Three Counties.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 28, 2014, p. 1A. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/apr/28/deadly-tornado-slams-state-20140428/ (accessed March 20, 2025).

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas