Twister Kills At Least Two In Arkansas Town

A tornado late Sunday night struck this city’s downtown, killing at least two people, damaging buildings and toppling tractor-trailer trucks, authorities said.

The twister struck between 11 p.m. and midnight, leaving debris on the main bridge over the Arkansas River, said state police spokesman Wayne Jordan. This city of 73,000 is 160 miles west of Little Rock, on the Oklahoma line.

Radio station KWHN said several buildings on Garrison Avenue, Fort Smith’s main downtown thoroughfare, were damaged.

“We’ve got serious structural damage,” said a Fort Smith police dispatcher.

A dispatcher at the state police troop headquarters at Fort Smith said tractor-trailers had been blown over on Interstate 40 in nearby Van Buren.