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.

State emergency officials said at least 13 people were injured. Emergency workers in Conway County, which includes Center Ridge, said six people were taken to hospitals.

At least six western Arkansas counties said heavy rain and frequent lightning had caused damage.

Earlier, high winds destroyed residences in Kansas City, Missouri, local media reported.

The storms formed early on Friday when a mass of warm, moist air collided with a cold front near Arkansas' western border.

(Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston; Editing by Anna Driver, Eileen O'Grady and John O'Callaghan)