Jonesboro tornado 'too close for comfort' for Arkansas softball star

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One way Arkansas’ softball coaches are keeping their players close during this period of social distancing is by assigning a handful to do “daily gratitudes” in the team GroupMe chat.

Perhaps none have had something to be thankful for quite like redshirt junior Braxton Burnside. The shortstop was back home in Paragould when multiple tornadoes hit the northeast corner of the state Saturday.

During the EF-3 tornado that caused extensive damage in Jonesboro, Burnside - who was hitting .392 with five home runs when the season was canceled after 25 games because of the coronavirus - said she was actually at a friend’s house and ended up taking cover at her boyfriend’s grandmother’s house

“It was a little too close for comfort, I’m not going to lie,” Burnside said. “That’s probably the most scared I’ve ever been in a tornado situation.”

There was also an EF-1 tornado in southeast Greene County, the same county as Paragould.

The Jonesboro twister had winds up to 140 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service, and was on the ground for 10-20 miles, causing several hundred million dollars worth of damage.

“There is actually debris everywhere at my house in Paragould, there’s debris all over Paragould, and it was probably a good 10 miles from my house” Burnside said. “To think that debris was taken all the way to my house just kind of accounts for how strong it was.”

After surveying about 80 percent of the damage, the Red Cross is reporting that 83 homes were destroyed, 66 received major damage and 309 received minor damage. The Mall at Turtle Creek was also severely damaged.

However, no one died in the storm and only 22 people were injured. Despite the debris in her yard, Burnside said she and her family were actually pretty lucky.

“I think it puts in perspective how fast things can go from bad to worse and how fast things can change,” Burnside said. “My house is fine, my friends and family, our houses are fine in Paragould, but those in Jonesboro were not as lucky, so yeah, it hit pretty close to home and it was pretty scary.”