Mountain Home, Ark. woman experiences devastating Little Rock tornado

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KY3) - People are still reeling from the devastation and destruction left in the wake of Friday’s tornado that tore through Arkansas.

Roofs were ripped off, buildings destroyed and people hurt by what can only be described as the fury of mother nature.

“It’s just really alarming to see and register like that could have been me or anyone you know, it’s, it’s just shocking,” said Grace Gilbert, who witnessed the tornado.

Gilbert is from Mountain Home but now lives in Little Rock. She left work early knowing a storm was coming, but she never expected one so fierce.

“Around 2 p.m. is when things started to get bad where I was at,” said Gilbert. “You know, you could see the lightning coming through the windows really bad. And then the rain had picked up, and it just started storming worse than I had ever seen living in Little Rock.”

She says Little Rock staples like the Kroger have been all but wiped off the face of the Earth. Others living in Little Rock took shelter only to emerge and find their homes destroyed.

“Everything happened in like five seconds,” said one witness to the tornado. “It was like it came, boom, you hear a lot of commotion and stuff, and then it was just over go outside, and it’s crazy! People got blood all over their faces and some lady named Nancy I met her at the beauty salon, and she had a pipe piercing through her leg, and I was trying to help her out and stuff, and I hope she’s okay.”

Grace says she’s just happy she wasn’t hit as hard as she could have been.

“I’m extremely blessed,” said Gilbert. “And if there was a way that I can help anybody, I would be so happy to do it. You know, I feel bad for my neighbors and people who I work with. And I’ve had different experiences with this tornado, and I will work the best I can to help those people. But I’m extremely thankful to be safe and have all of my things because it really would turn your life upside down.”

We do not know the full toll of the damage left behind by the tornado, but Gilbert says she expects it to be months before Little Rock is back to normal.

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