Storms kill 7, injure 13 in northern Arkansas

By Steve Barnes

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Severe storms tore through northern Arkansas on Friday, killing at least seven people and injuring 13 in the southern U.S. state.

"We know there has been significant property damage, so the number of deaths and injuries could grow," Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said.

Television footage showed overturned trucks, houses without roofs and trees snapped in half. Entergy Corp, one of the state's major electricity providers, said about 6,000 homes and businesses were without power.

The storms were part of a system that stretched from northern Missouri to central Texas.

Two people died when their mobile home was blown apart by a storm in the farming community of Center Ridge, about 60 miles

north of Little Rock, a National Weather Service spokesman said.

Three people were killed in the Damascus area, the Arkansas Emergency Management Department said. Another death was reported near Little Rock.

A seventh person died in Benton County in the northwestern corner of the state along the borders with Oklahoma and Missouri, the department said.