<|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|>As classes let out in Searcy, Ark., on Tuesday, and students scattered across neighborhoods, a seventh-grader in the Riverview School District noticed something that stopped him in his tracks. He was taking a shortcut across campus, on<wm> Broomfield Boulevard and surrounding streets near the river, and as the kids from the Riverview High School were still gathered in the park to decide who would play in the championship, a group of cars, probably traveling from outlying neighborhoods like West Memphis and East Memphis, slowed, then stopped, then finally passed the kids gathered in the park.

The traffic jam on Searcy was an illusion - for one reason only: a tornado warning had issued for Northwest Arkansas, and as the storm clouds began</wm> to close in, the winds were causing cars, probably thousands and thousands and possibly even tens of thousands