4-27-2014 KATV Mayflower & Vilonia Tornado Coverage

[@TeKnoVKNG23]

Was visiting parents when this hit. Had been watching the weather all day, as a former Skywarn spotter I knew it was going to be a dicey day. We had been out eating dinner and got home about 30 minutes before it hit. I was watching radar on my phone and it gave me the warning about 30 seconds before the sirens went off. The news switched over but was just talking about rotation, but my weather app was already reporting spotters had seen a mile wide tornado on the ground doing damage. Parents house had no basement or anywhere good to hide since it was a 1 story open floorplan. I've chased tornadoes for a long time and this was the scariest one because there was nowhere to go and nothing to do but wait and see if it was going to hit. It missed us about 2 miles to the north, but we could hear it go by and see the upper parts of the structure. Worst part was the tornado watch continued for the rest of the night and I couldn't sleep at all after hearing that monster go by, terrified I'd be woken up to sirens.We had been at Pinnacle the day before, you could tell those were power flashes on their tower cam. Just a scary time.

[@kingdawg237]

The NWS office in North Little Rock rated the Vilonia/Mayflower tornado a high end EF4. The office's meteorologists and storm surveyors explained that an area of houses near downtown Vilonia were wiped clean off of their foundations, but because the houses did not have anchor bolts, and because the Enhanced Fujita scale also looks at how impacted structures were built, this tornado was not rated EF5. Either way, the damage that the tornado caused was catastrophic, and it is unfortunate that 15 lives were lost in the tornado. The (don't quote me on this) final tornado count from the 4/27-4/28 outbreak was 69, including 2 EF4s (Louisville, MS) and 9 EF3s (including Athens, AL, Tupelo, MS, and Richland, MS), resulting in 35 tornado related fatalities, as well as several flash flooding fatalities and 1 fatality in Tuscaloosa, AL that was related to the storm but not the tornado itself.

[@midwestsirens]

I think it should have been rated EF-5 from the damage pics I've seen. They made a mistake rating it EF-4.

[@iamranndizzle3204]

Judy G. You can’t see rain wrapped tornadoes

[@iamranndizzle3204]

James Nuttes this was great coverage

[@iamranndizzle3204]

RCDude the construction wasn’t well built enough for EF-5

[@Scammer434]

That area of houses was my neighborhood Absolute destruction

[@arkansashogg7835]

it's very hard to believe that it has been two years since the mayflower tornado and how how It impacted arkansas....and also how it brought a community's all together

[@ericpigg2689]

At 6:45 he mentions my neighborhood (The River Plantation). We took a direct hit. We lost 50 brick homes, with several stripped to the slab. It was a miracle that only one person was killed in my neighborhood. The early warning provided by KATV definitely saved lives. We had at least 10-12 minutes of warning for this. This tornado was a high end EF-4 in my neighborhood. I hope to never see those scenes again in my life.

[@kenziiefaith]

my fiancé and i live very close to where this happened. we live on the top floor of our apartment complex too which is even more scary. i hate tornado season even more than i already did. i can’t even imagine the fear of hearing it or knowing it would be coming right at us. i hope i never know what that’s like. such a terrifying though. can’t believe it’s been 6 years

[@yoshimellow8043]

This was quite some time, and I don’t remember it, because I was, well, a year old

[@haydenclay9428]

This tornado outbreak occurred exactly three years after the 2011 Super Outbreak.

[@peachxtaehyung]

@James Nuttes how? This happened 4-27-2014 and the 2011 Super outbreak happened 4-27-2011... Also how does them mentioning this fact endanger lives? They're not claiming this is another super outbreak because those happen every like 40yrs but they mentioned it is a tornado outbreak which it was...

[@vortlcity2860]

@James Nuttes ??? this tornado literally happened 4-27-14, 3 years after 4-27-11

[@adoginacowboyhat8196]

my eyes are tearing up I remember this day in full detail I saw almost everything I loved gone on just a few hours, I lost 3 family members April 2014

[@chrissybradley6098]

My dad was killed in this tornado Mark Bradley I think about this every time it storms. I'm think about him every day.

[@heatherstub]

I'm also so sorry for your loss. Are you able to remember with fondness all the good times and experiences you shared with each of your loved ones? I know I didn't lose anyone in such a horrible way, but is it easier to remember those special experiences and be thankful for them? If there's anything I try to do, it's to tell my family and friends how much I love them and how glad they're a part of my life. I want to be able to say all I want to say to my loved ones before we are separated from this world.

[@Mandi8557]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I will always remember watching the coverage of this. My heart goes out to you.

[@peachxtaehyung]

I am so sorry for your losses. May they rest in peace

[@Scammer434]

Sorry for your loss. I was in this tornado aswell. It was fucking wild

[@Mandi8557]

We knew days in advance that it was going to be a volatile day. I remember checking my weather apps multiple times that day. While eating dinner, these warnings came out and I was glued to the tv. Knowing that people were gonna get hurt, broke my heart. This is a day that will forever live in my memory. Even today, thinking about this event still brings a tear to my eye and a lump in my throat. RIP to all those who lost their life that day. You will never be forgotten💔

[@ericpigg2689]

Samne here @mandi8557. I actually got false hope because the temps were so low that morning. I did not think the tornadoes would form. I live in the River Plantation just south of Mayflower. It destroyed 48 homes in my neighborhood, but thank God, we were spared.

[@scotabot7826]

Ok guys, you have a huge confirmed tornado with a giant debris ball moving into a highly developed area, and two other warnings that are not confirmed. I wonder which one we should talk about? The two unconfirmed, ok, you got it!!!!!

[@hayleyscomet3447]

I remember this day....it was so scary

[@failynnblack4030]

You can see something pass over pinnacle between 8:45 and 8:50

[@zekesowner2654]

Five Live Dopplers? They have deeper pockets than I thought.

[@GatlinBilleck]

the tornado demolished Downtown Vilonia

[@Tailwhip222]

i used to live in Vilonia, i moved before this happened :P

[@daytonarjun9296]

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[@yusufeaston8541]

@Dayton Arjun yea, I've been using instaflixxer for years myself =)

[@nehemiahreginald6810]

@Dayton Arjun yea, been using InstaFlixxer for months myself =)

[@HillBillyRipple]

I live in roland and shit got crazy

[@matthewjames2015]

Question; what kind of sirens do you'll have & what kind of damage did the town get?

[@Scammer434]

The town was dead after words

[@supertornadogun1690]

Well that escalated quickly

[@scotthayes4135]

I fear this could happen again and next time it may be a whole lot worse.

[@CatLover-dj3uv]

He was asked is that a debris ball and his answer was a possibility okay???

[@jordanharrison8769]

They are dealing with limited information. They can’t see a tornado. They see rotation at 15,000+ feet. They are extrapolating based on experience and information from the National Weather Service. Only once they learned it was a tornado emergency and got confirmation it was on the ground could they know it was a debris ball. They did a great job of speaking with an urgent tone even though they see this all the time and no tornado is actually on the ground. They couldn’t know at this time it would be one of the most violent tornadoes in the states history.

[@davidmarshall385]

at 8n 56 in the video you can see something moveing up and down the mountain freaky shit lolits a black blob of something lol 4 real check it out peeps

[@CatLover-dj3uv]

a tornado emergency is only issued when a tornado is moving into a highly populated area. Not when there's a confirmed tornado. Dear God bless your hearts I'm just a citizen who lives in Oklahoma and I know this stuff by heart

[@Scammer434]

Q Team Prez thank you I was only five years old when this happened and when we got rescued it was a ghost town in my area complete destruction devastating.

[@iamranndizzle3204]

A tornado emergency was issued. You can see it in the Warning text archives.

[@kidstaylor7719]

I think I saw the tornado in your cam

[@scotthayes5933]

It's very hard to see it, the tornado was hidden by the heavy rain.

[@CatLover-dj3uv]

I just ran across this and I am astonished that the head meteorologist walked up and asked was asked if that's the debris ball and he wasn't sure when in fact I bet everyone on this live stream or the stream knew that that was I in fact it's a free ball. My interest in this area although I don't live there is my son my daughter-in-law and my five precious grandbabies. They wasted so much time trying to figure out how to read the radar until finally someone told him hey guess what there's a tornado I don't even believe what I'm hearing. Please go back to school please learn how to read that map and please warn the people of Little Rock just a little bit better you probably waste 10:15 precious moments minutes of time not knowing what you were doing and God bless you I'm sorry but it's the truth. I could read that Matt better and faster. God bless you please go back to school

[@shirleyharcrow3988]

I was thinking the exact same thing. If you watch TWC's coverage of this event they was on point telling people about the debris ball and to take cover well before channel 7 did.

[@iamranndizzle3204]

Not that big of a deal. I’m sure the lives he saved don’t care about a minor slip up.

[@ericpigg2689]

I disagree. If you watched this video, one of the first things they said was for people in the path of this storm to take cover. My neighborhood sits on the Arkansas River south of Mayflower (he mentions my neighborhood at 6:45 in the video), and was mostly destroyed. We lost 50 homes in my neighborhood alone. Even being as close as we are to to the origin of this tornado, which started in Ferndale, we had a full 10-14 minutes of instructions to take cover. Out of 50 homes destroyed in my neighborhood, we only lost one life, and that was due to a defective storm shelter door. Telling these pros to "go back to school" makes you sound foolish. They saved hundreds of lives that day. Look how much warning Vilonia had. They still had multiple deaths that day, with at least a half hour of warning provided KATV and the other local news sources.

[@jordanharrison8769]

Dude the amount of info they have is extremely limited. They have a rotation signature, they see that all the time . They don’t know it’s on the ground. They can only assume, which they mention it. If it’s not on the ground then all you see is a massive updraft and a rain wrapped funnel cloud. Only once there was confirmation were they able to know it was a debris ball. That’s exactly why they spoke with urgency despite not knowing. I was in north Littlerock on this day, at this time. I saw the supercell and the wall cloud of this tornado. My wife and friends were all standing outside when the sirens went off. 9 p.m. that night my friend got mobilized to go to mayflower. It was completely destroyed. I, as an Arkansas, have full faith in our meteorologist across the state, they always bring you their best information that they have. The storm over searcy is a storm that was rotating, but it never dropped a tornado on searcy. That’s an example of what I was saying. Not every storm that rotates drops a tornado, not every tornado is a Ef-4/5

[@Boneloc12345]

The TV guys do not do a great job here. Very disorganized and the talking over each other is very distracting. I wouldn't want to be in the path of these storms and trying to listen to these guys.

[@TiraSkye]

Todd Yokabian gets very excited about severe weather and the head weather man, Ned , gets frustrated with him. I can't watch this channel during severe weather for this reason.

[@crocodile1313]

huntress8806 I would take the "excited" guy any day over "Ned" who seems to hem and haw about the storm. Those guys should have been repeating "tornado emergency" every minute! To see these situations called very well, look at the videos of meteorologist James Spann in Birmingham, Alabama and Mike Morgan from KFOR in Oklahoma City. When it comes to trying to save people's lives, there is no such thing as "too excited"...you HAVE to get people to ACT, not sit and think.

[@TiraSkye]

CrocDoc1 oh no. I agree with that. But he gets OVERLY excited. It wouldn't be so bad if they just had the one and he did it. But when they start talking over one another is when I change to another station.

[@DanDrolett]

+CrocDoc1 True, but too much excitement can cause people to panic and not think clearly. Especially in an urgent situation like this, it's important to keep a clear head so you can properly do what needs to be done.

[@AmazinglyAlayna]

Can you blame them? They were nervous. After all this would be the second time Vilonia is hit by a large strength tornado.