Tornadoes Reported In Arkansas; 27 Hurt

Severe storms swept cars off roads, crumpled businesses and sent mobile homes airborne Saturday as they moved through southern Arkansas. At least 27 people were injured.

Residents reported seeing multiple tornadoes, and the National Guard was called in to assist with cleanup. The storms cut electricity in the area, and authorities said an unknown number of people were missing.

At Fred's Dollar store, employees ducked as items came raining from the shelves. When it was over, the store was nothing more than a tangle of twisted metal and crumbled concrete blocks.

"I hit the floor. Lord, all the debris was falling on us: the iron, the tin," said Bobbie Thomas, who works at the store. "I said 'Lord, all I want you to do is save us today. It's in your hands.'"

Nothing could save much of Dumas, where there were door-to-door searches today for the missing, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. The swath of ruin runs five miles long, and a half-mile wide.

The National Weather Service said it had a report of cars being thrown into trees. Authorities said a couple in Urbana were injured when their mobile home blew away, and a truck carrying wood chips was blown off a roadway. A tractor-trailer flipped over in a parking lot.

Forecasters said the damage could have been done by a tornado or by straight-line winds that could have exceeded 70 mph. They were on the scene to examine debris patterns and look for clues about where the storms traveled.

James Robinson of Winchester said he pulled into a McDonald's parking lot and ran from his car when he saw a black cloud coming. "It sounded just like a locomotive train, not real fast," said Robinson. He said he helped a woman into the store, then hid in the restaurant's walk-in freezer.

Tornadoes also were reported in Mississippi and Louisiana.

In Indianola, Miss., a church was nearly split in half as tornadoes swept through the area, the Sunflower County Sheriff's Office said. In Louisiana, at least two homes were destroyed and dozens more were damaged in the northern and central part of the state.

Elsewhere, winds reaching 60 mph helped fuel dozens of grass fires across Texas, destroying three homes near Midland and forcing about 6,500 people to be evacuated from Fort Hood, authorities said. No injuries were reported. About 37,000 homes and businesses were without power after winds blew down power lines.

In Oklahoma, high winds knocked out power to more than 10,000 homes and destroyed two mobile homes.