CINCINNATI, Ark. — A Washington County Sheriff’s dispatcher says three people have died after a tornado slammed into the tiny northwest Arkansas town of Cincinnati.

Dispatcher Josh Howerton says the storm caused damage along State Highway 59 in downtown Cincinnati and through most of the western portion of Washington County early today. He says there are “lots of injuries.”

Cincinnati is near the Oklahoma state line, about 20 miles west of Fayetteville.

Rick Johnson, the deputy emergency manager for Washington County, says the same storm system caused damage in nearby Tontitown.

Johnson says initial emergency responders are having trouble reaching the damaged areas because of downed power lines.