Polk County News

A pilot had to make an emergency landing in Polk County late Wednesday afternoon.

State Police and Polk County Sheriff's officers confirm the pilot of a private plane was having engine troubles when he was forced to bring the plane down on County Road 401 in Mena around 8 o'clock Wednesday night.

MENA / WALDRON - A local county is looking to house their prisoners at a jail that hasn't opened yet.

Gov. Mike Beebe sought a federal disaster declaration Tuesday for three storm-ravaged Arkansas counties.

The tornado, which killed three people, damaged Mena Middle School so severely that it will have to be condemned, school officials and Polk County Judge Ray B. Stanley said Monday.

The morning sun has given Polk County officials and residents the chance to assess damages in the area, after a tornado and apple-sized hail ripped through the town of Mena Thursday night.

Benjamin Wesley Lee, 26, of Emmet was struck and killed by a 2000 GMC Yukon, driven by Issa Johnson, 36, of Florence, Ala., in the predawn hours Sunday morning, according to a report by the Arkansas State Police.

U.S. Representative Mike Ross issued the following statement today in response the damage caused by a devasting tornado that hit the town of Mena on April 9, 2009.

The National Weather Service confirms that two tornadoes struck Polk County as part of a storm system that killed three people.

Even in the darkness, there was little doubt the small town of Mena, Arkansas was in trouble.

Polk County Sheriff Mike Oglesby says last night's tornado did severe damage to the jail in Mena and that the inmates have to be moved.

MENA a ' The Salvation Army is responding to the tornadoes that hit the western and southwestern parts of Arkansas Thursday night.

Emergency management officials in Polk County said about 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed during the tornadoes that ripped through the county Thursday.

The National Weather Service says the NOAA weather radio broadcast is off the air in Mena.

MENA The sirens sounded at least four times as the storms drew in, at every corner of the western Arkansas hamlet and in the center of town.

Streets were being cleared and roofs were being covered with tarps on Saturday as recovery crews work to help Mena recover from a devastating tornado.

Gov. Mike Beebe declared Howard, Polk and Sevier Counties state disaster areas due to damage caused by Thursday night's severe storms.

A reported tornado hit central Tennessee on Friday, injuring at least 13 people as a line of storms that killed three people a day earlier in western Arkansas crept into the South.

The Polk County sheriff says the search and rescue operation in the area where the Mena tornado struck has concluded, with no further dead or injured being found.

The Polk County coroner has identified the three people who died Thursday night when a tornado hit Mena.