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Property Owner, Former Sheriff Remember Deadly Tornado Twenty Years Later

FORT SMITH (KFSM) –Thursday, April 21 marks the 20th year anniversary of a tornado that hit Fort Smith and Van Buren. The tornado hit the northwest end of...

FORT SMITH (KFSM) --Thursday, April 21 marks the 20th year anniversary of a tornado that hit Fort Smith and Van Buren. The tornado hit the northwest end of Garrison Avenue in Fort Smith just after 11 p.m. The National Weather Service estimated the F3 tornado to be about a half-mile wide, traveling approximately seven miles.

Four deaths were reported after the tornado hit, including two that were children.

Gary Grimes was the sheriff of Sebastian County from 1988-2000. He said he remembers being in the south end of the county when a call came over the police radio that a tornado hit Garrison Avenue.

"It was so quiet and dark and you started thinking. I wondered how bad it really is, because you couldn't see anything." Grimes said. "Our first main concern were people who were injured or maybe still here that we didn't know about. At 11 p.m. at night, we knew there wouldn't be too many in the business area, but we weren't for sure."

Grimes said he and other deputies maneuvered the street of Garrison Avenue with debris everywhere, power lines down and historical buildings built in the 1800s toppled to the ground.

The two children were killed on the north end of Fort Smith with an estimated 1,800 homes or buildings damaged.

Richard Griffin owns many properties downtown Garrison Avenue. He said he remembers pulling up to the scene the morning after the tornado.

"Big boys don't cry, but I felt like crying," Griffin said.

He remembers a building that was demolished next to where La Huerta is today caught fire days after the tornado when employees turned the power back on.

"They all go up to look at the roof damage and by the time they get to the top floor, smoke was billowing up," he said. "They got off by the fire escape on the back side."

Historical structures like the Reynolds-Davis building, also owned by Griffin, toppled. However, after everything, he decided to leave the front entrance of the building standing.

"It was five stories tall. We had some ideas to renovate it, but the tornado changed our mind. So, we did some other stuff," Griffin said.

It took days to clear debris enough to get traffic moving. Tearing down or completely cleaning up the debris from buildings eventually took years. As years passed and structures were re-built, Griffin said the tornado helped paved the way for the Garrison Avenue that stands today.

"It caused us to move forward with what we have today," he said.

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