Tornado Touches Down in Rogers

The National Weather Service did not issue a Tornado Warning for Rogers Saturday night, so sirens never went off before the tornado hit.

"First indication we got was the alarm at the Aloft hotel down the road went off," Keith Foster with the Rogers Police Department said.

Little did anyone know at the time that the strong winds were in fact the first tornado in decades to touch down in Roger city limits.

"Started to come up to investigate it and that the storms just blew a path and were taken down power lines, trees, blowing things a part," Foster said. 

City officials say this could have been a deadly storm had the winds blown just a quarter of a mile any other way.

However, much of the destruction wasn't evident until the light of day.

"In the area somewhere between 3 and 4 buildings. They're all structurally sound, but they're significant, especially in terms of the damage potential to the property," Chief Tom Jenkins with the Rogers Fire Department said.

The tornado left a path of damage around South 52nd street.Power lines toppled over, windows blown out of businesses and homes and snapped trees. Even a car caught in the storm didn't escape unharmed. 

"We had two people in the car about the time the storm hit and from what I'm told the storm hit, it spun the car around with them in it. Luckily, so far with all this there's no injuries," Foster said.

Pinnacle Hills Parkway remains closed Sunday night, as crews work to repair natural gas leaks. Emergency teams continue surveying the area.

"We'll have a presence here but certainly the urgency of the situation is gone and the clean up will begin," Jenkins said. 

Rogers Fire Department conducted what they call "windshield survey's" today, just making sure residents who may have had damage received some help.