LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — National Weather Service survey teams are uncovering widespread tornado devastation across Arkansas, with preliminary findings now confirming two EF-4 events among a range of destruction from EF-2 to EF-4. The latest EF-4 rating comes from near Larkin in Izard County, where winds reached 170 m.p.h., joining Diaz as the second top-tier twister from Friday’s outbreak. In Diaz, peak winds hit 190 m.p.h., demolishing a home and tossing vehicles hundreds of yards.
In Woodruff County, the Fitzhugh community—north of Augusta—suffered EF-2 damage, with winds clocked at 120 m.p.h. tearing through the rural enclave. Farther north, the Fifty-Six community in Stone County faced an EF-3 twister with 140 m.p.h. gusts, leaving a scar of wreckage in its wake. Cave City, surveyed over the weekend, also took an EF-3 hit, where winds reached 165 m.p.h., leveling structures and upending lives.
The National Weather Service continues to piece together the storm’s toll, with crews combing through debris to assess the full scope of the carnage. The twin EF-4s—Diaz at 190 m.p.h. and Larkin at 170 m.p.h.—stand out as rare and catastrophic, ranking among the most violent tornadoes to strike the region in recent memory. As reports solidify, affected communities brace for a long recovery, with the sheer power of these storms now etched into Arkansas’s landscape.
