ROGERS, Ark. — At 3:41 a.m. on May 26, just hours after tornadoes ravaged Benton County, Kelsey Bain contacted 5NEWS to warn that several campers at the Karst Loop campsites in Hobbs State Park, including two children and a woman trapped under a downed tree, were stranded at the campground awaiting emergency services.
At 7:22 a.m. that morning, Bain said that multiple adults and two children were still stuck at the campgrounds.
"If someone with a boat could make it out to help, the woman injured is in bad shape. She was stuck under a tree for several hours," Bain said.
By 11:52 a.m., Bain advised that the campers had managed to get the tree off the injured woman and had gotten her evacuated.
"She is in the hospital and the rest of us all made it out ok," she said.
5NEWS continued to stay in contact with Bain, who ensured that everyone was safe, accounted for, and recovering as hundreds of people in the area had been adversely affected by the storms that raged through Northwest Arkansas.
In the days that followed, Bain continued to offer updates and more insight into what happened at the campground early Sunday morning.
Bain says that four of the six campsites at Karst Loop were occupied. Campsite 1 had a family of three, Campsite 2 had two adults, Campsite 3 had Bain, her partner and their dog, and Campsite 6 had a family of four and a dog.
She explains that they were aware of the weather, but not particularly concerned at the time.
"We were watching the weather reports throughout the night but felt confident it would not be too severe. The folks at the visitor's center even said it would probably be a fun experience if it stormed. We have camped in thunderstorms before so we were not too scared, and we knew there would be other campers," Bain said.
She said that when the tornado warning sounded off on their phones, the wind and rain were not very bad yet, but it was likely too late to do anything.
"I was texting with my family and was concerned, but not overly so. At that point, we couldn't have done much anyway, it's about a 4-mile hike into these campsites," Bain said.
Then the tornado struck.
"When the tornado hit, our tent moved approximately 5 feet with us inside of it. The tent collapsed around us. We took shelter under our packs and under our sleeping pads hoping that would provide some protection. I think the worst of it lasted between 20-30 minutes, but it felt like hours. The hail hitting our tent felt like it was between the size of a tennis ball and a baseball," Bain recalled.
Campsite 6 was where the tree fell on the woman, barely missing her two daughters. Bain says that the woman's husband sought help in the midst of the rain while the trail disappeared under falling branches and trees.
The man made it to the adults at Campsite 2, who helped gather Bain and her partner from Campsite 3 to help.
The campers made their way back to Campsite 6, where the two daughters, 10 and 12 years old, were huddled together in the rain, holding their dog while their mother screamed in pain in the collapsed tent under the fallen tree.
Bain says that the tree was about 100 feet tall and nearly 3 feet in diameter.
"It took 4 adults to get the tree off of her. The woman was wrapped in the tent. We moved her under the primitive shelters at the Karst Loop to try to protect her if another surge came. She had a very severe head injury. This was around 2:30 in the morning," Bain said.
The campers called 911 but by 6:30 that morning, no one had come.
"We kept calling 911, the ranger's office, and even the closest marina but could not get any updates or help. The trails were completely impassable," Bain said. "We passed the night holding taking turns holding her hand and talking with her to make sure she was conscious."
Bain and her partner went to the shore and were eventually able to flag someone down from across the lake.
"We eventually saw someone across the lake and through shouting were able to tell them what was going on," Bain said.
She explains that they were able to contact someone, and he arrived by boat 30 minutes later.
At around 8 a.m., five people from the group carried the woman about half a mile and took her out by boat, which delivered her to an ambulance waiting across the lake. The husband went with her while the daughters stayed with the family from Campsite 1, who were family friends.
The husband eventually went back for the two daughters before the rest of the group had been rescued.
At around 10 a.m., the fire department cleared a path from an access road through the forest, and the remaining campers hiked out.
Bain says that the woman who the tree had crushed had a broken jaw and a possible skull fracture, but she had surgery on May 28 and is expected to make a full recovery.
The Friends of Hobbs State Park Facebook page posted on May 26 that the park was "devastated" by the severe weather.
"The storm last night has devastated the park. All trails and the Visitor Center will remain closed as we assess the damage and will reopen as soon as possible," the post said. "The important thing is all staff are ok and no major damage found as yet to most buildings. The main thing now is just getting roads open for emergency vehicles. We will update here as possible, including when the Visitor Center will reopen. But it will take quite some time to clear the trails."
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