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Tornadoes Leave 100-Mile Long Path of Destruction in Arkansas

At least 14 people were killed in the state when tornadoes swept through more than a dozen towns on Sunday night.
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Tornadoes killed at least 16 people across three states Sunday, but the worst of the storms tore a deadly path over a hundred-mile stretch of Arkansas.

Shortly before 7 p.m., a funnel cloud was spotted in Waldron, near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border.

Within three hours, as many as 14 people were dead and hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed by the killer storm's march through Little Rock's northern suburbs.

Here's a recounting of the deadly night in Arkansas:

7:25 p.m. A tornado touches down in Roland, Ark., about 45 minutes after and 100 miles east of the first funnel-cloud sighting.

7:34 p.m. A tornado crosses Interstate 40 in southeast Mayflower, the first town in the county of Faulkner to get pummeled. “What I’m seeing is something that I cannot describe in words,” Faulkner County Sheriff Andy Shock told NBC News. “It is utter and sheer devastation.”

7:39 p.m. Several houses are damaged in Saltillo, Ark., according to the National Weather Service. A witness estimated the twister was a half-mile wide.

7:42 p.m. The tornado moves through east Mayflower, damaging several houses, according to the National Weather Service. "It sounded like a constant rolling, roaring sound," Becky Naylor, of Mayflower told The Associated Press. "Trees were really bending and the light poles were actually shaking and moving."

7:42 p.m. The twister first takes out trees in Vilonia, which was devastated by a tornado three years ago, almost to the date.

7:50 p.m. "Two houses on Cemetery Road have been wiped clean to the foundation," in Vilonia, the National Weather Service reports. A brand new, $14 million intermediate school due to open in the fall was also wiped out, Vilonia Schools Superintendent Frank Mitchell told the AP. "There's just really nothing there anymore. We're probably going to have to start all over again."

8:01 p.m. A tornado closes down two more highways in El Paso, Ark.

8:20 p.m. Power lines are toppled in Searcy, Ark., in White County, leaving persisting electric troubles on Monday morning. Faulkner, Pulaski and White, the first counties hit by the tornadoes, experienced the most outages, according to Entergy Arkansas.

8:35 p.m. More power lines are downed in Steprock, Ark., also in White County.

8:50 p.m. Two tornadoes are reported in Pleasant Plains, Ark., and Denmark, Ark., and witnesses realize this is a multi-twister situation.

9:05 p.m. Tornado touches down in Macks, Ark.

9:10 p.m. Law enforcement reports another tornado in Jacksonport, Ark.

9:24 p.m. The last tornado reported in Arkansas strikes in Campbell Station, more than 200 miles from where the first funnel cloud formed.