Tornado and Flood Relief in Sharp County, Arkansas

In the past three months, my community has been hit very hard by natural disasters. In February, EF3 and EF4 tornadoes ripped through this area like someone on a rampage. It wiped out most of our commercial district in Highland, Arkansas. In March, the Spring River flooded out of its banks about 400 yards to put our Loberg Park in Hardy, Arkansas and many houses and businesses nearly under water. The river crested at 22 ft. on the flood stage scale, and Hardy was just getting cleaned up from the this flood when another one hit on April 10th.

The devastation in this community has driven me to do something better for my community, and I need you help!

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By Chris Murphy
Staff Writer for Villager Online

After two months of not knowing, Highland finally has figures from the federal government for estimated damage to city property caused by the Feb. 5 tornado.

At the April 8 city council meeting, Mayor Jerome Norwood said the city has $415,065.98 in damages. The estimated replacement cost for the fire station is $224,416. Of that figure, the city’s insurance will pay for $35,000 leaving the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management to pay for $189,416. In addition, the contents of the fire station to be replaced is valued at $81,512.90. The remainder of the figure is for labor.

The figures were arrived at by using a standard formula for disaster assistance, Norwood said. FEMA pays 75 percent, the state pays 12.5 percent and the city pays 12.5 percent; however, labor can be deducted from the city’s portion.

The council unanimously agreed to waive the $500 spending limit of the mayor in order to get the fire department settled and back on its feet as soon as possible. The department has been continuing to respond to calls by utilizing the help of others. Trucks and equipment have been donated or loaned to the department since the tornado by many other departments across the region and the state. Norwood announced that the blue firetruck is back in service.

Norwood said with the $130,000 in grants the city has applied for on behalf of the fire department, an engineer and an architect are required.

Norwood spoke to an engineer from Jonesboro who actually filed one of the grants for him, he said. The engineer has agreed to work for the city, if it receives the grants, for 10 percent of the total cost.

A local architect also submitted a bid for the work for the city. The base price was $22,000 with additional costs.

The council voted to move forward with the engineer and let him take the lead on the project if the city is approved.

In other business, the council approved an ordinance that calls for the mayor or his representative to order a resident or property owner to take care of unsightly or unsanitary conditions on their property.

The ordinance replaces another ordinance that has been on the books since 2001. The new ordinance has updated information from the state, Norwood said.

Alderman Larry Allen said the council doesn’t need to give the mayor permission to make the call. Instead, the code enforcement officer should be given the permission. Alderman Woody Pardue said it doesn’t matter whether it is in the ordinance or not. The mayor has the authority over the code enforcement officer.

In addition, in some instances the situation may not be black and white, Allen said. Many of the situations will require a judgement call from the officer. Allen said because of that reason, he would like to give residents an opportunity to appeal. The ordinance was changed to include an appeal period of 30 days.

The ordinance passed 7-1 with an emergency clause. Alderman Mary Jo Clark voted against all three readings of the ordinance.

In addition, the council also approved an ordinance that authorizes the city to raze or remove unsafe buildings in the city.

Allen said he would like for a professional to verify that a building is unsafe before it is destroyed.

Alderman David Harris said the ordinance is needed now because of existing trash and portions of buildings left standing from the tornado.

He said he and Norwood have both heard of property owners who have no plans to clean up their property.

The ordinance was approved unanimously. The ordinances requires the council to act on the matter, not just the mayor.

The council unanimously voted to table an ordinance that would allow the city to collect franchise fees from Charter Communications.

The ordinance would be non-exclusive meaning another provider could come into town and offer cable service to city residents. Charter would pay five percent in franchise fees to the city on a quarterly basis. The agreement would expire Feb. 1, 2013

Resident and business owner Max Hill said by approving the fee, the added cost will be passed on to customers including those who don’t have much money to begin with. Alderman Jack Kimbrell suggested the city look at a lower fee such as three percent.

Allen suggested the city go online and look at the agreement the company has with West Plains, Mo. He said the more lengthy ordinance is more specific than the one presented to the council. In addition, he said the city should make sure the company abides by all city ordinances.

Allen asked that the ordinance be tabled in order for the council to have an opportunity to research the possibility more thoroughly and look at the West Plains ordinance.

Alderman Shawn Reed said a similar agreement was brought up years ago. At that time, the council rejected the agreement. Norwood said the rejection was because the agreement was exclusive.

Recorder/treasurer Mary Ruth Wiles said the sales tax check the city receives from the state this month will reflect the loss of sales tax caused by the tornado. Those findings will be presented to the council at the May 13 meeting.

By Chris Murphy
Staff Writer for Villager Online

Last week’s flooding caused another $70,000 to $100,000 worth of damage to city property in hard hit Hardy.

“It’s just tore up so much,” Mayor Nina Thornton said.

The city had roughly $2 million in damage from the March flood. With the damage from this flood, the estimate has increased by $70,000 to $100,000.

Although the Hardy area didn’t see as much debris in the flood this time, there was additional damage to property

The walls to the bathrooms in Loberg Park were busted out, the large playground equipment at the park also received additional damage, more asphalt was washed away from Loberg Drive and the $9,000 worth of gravel the city used to temporarily fix areas where pavement had washed away on Wilburn Brothers Boulevard and Loberg Drive was also washed away in the flood.

Thornton said she estimates it will cost the city $15,000 to repair the bathrooms at Loberg Park, $9,000 to replace the gravel that was washed away and another $30,000 to repair the roads in addition to the cost of other repairs needed throughout the city.

Of the city’s seven sewer pump stations, three require repair from the severe flooding. The motors became too wet. The city is now looking at ways to reduce the damage caused by flooding. So far, it is estimated to cost $50,000 per pump station.

Thornton said she attributes the damage from the recent flood to the heavy rains further north.

“It came up faster and was swifter this time,” she said. “It didn’t get quite as high here but it got higher elsewhere. We counted nine refrigerators/freezers that came down the river.”

In addition, two small storage buildings in town were also swept away in the flood, she said. Pillars that were erected to replace those washed away in the March flood were washed away again at some homes. The railroad tracks in town were also damaged again by the flooding.

Hydrologist Steve Bays with the National Weather Service in Little Rock notified the mayor of the anticipated flood Wednesday morning.

From 7 a.m. Thursday morning to 7 a.m. Friday morning Hardy received 1.08 inches of rain; however, areas upstream saw much more. Mammoth Spring received 3.20 inches during the same period, according to the National Weather Service. All of the rain from the northern tributaries made its way into both the Spring and South Fork rivers causing widespread flooding … again.

The weather service thought the river would crest around 25 feet, exceeding the crest during the March flood by more than two- and one-half feet. Luckily that never happened. The river crested at 20.81 feet around 4 p.m. April 10, according to the NWS.

At 4 a.m. Thursday the river at Hardy was at five feet; however, with heavy rain up north, the river rose five feet, to 10.2 feet, by 6 a.m. and exceeded the flood stage. Evacuations began an hour later. At 7:45 a.m., the river had reached 12.26 feet, Thornton said.

By 10 a.m. the city was notifying all properties effected in the 1982 flood of the situation in case the river exceeded its estimations.

“They listen. When the cop car pulls up or the phone rings and they find out it’s City Hall, they pack a suitcase and take off,” she said.

About a dozen homes received water damage in the recent flood. In the March flood 112 campers and other structures were damaged.

River Bend Park Manager Clifton Johnson said park occupants began packing up and leaving Wednesday night. Luckily, there were few occupants due to the sheer number of floods the area has suffered in recent weeks.

Riverbend, which lies right on the banks of the Spring River on Bluffs Road just outside the city limits, suffered severe damage in the March flood. In fact, the power hasn’t been restored since last month’s flood because many of the electrical meters in the park were washed downstream with other debris, Johnson said. In this flood the guard shack was swept away.

Hardy wasn’t the only location in Sharp County that was hit hard again by flooding. In fact, the entire county was damaged in the flood, according to Judge Larry Brown.

“We’ve got a tremendous amount of damage,” Brown said. “I think it did more damage this time.”

The recent heavy rain storms have caused some roads to wash out three times now, he said. With each flood, more debris is washed into road culverts. With so much rain in such a short period of time, the culverts weren’t cleaned out causing the flood water to wash over the roads even more than usual during last week’s flood.

Because of the damage, several roads have been temporarily closed. Closing the roads will give the roads a chance to dry out and for crews to make the necessary repairs. The closed roads are Shaw’s Cemetery Road in the southwest part of the county, Banks Road in the north, Corinth Road near Ash Flat and Puckett Road in the southeast.

“It’s bad all over the county,” Brown said. “It’s not just one area. We’ve had big rains everywhere. It’s going to take a while to get over.”

Cherokee Village fared better in this flood than the March flood, Mayor Lloyd Hefley said.

“We’ve just got a lot of debris, and we’re cleaning up,” he said.

In addition to the new debris, a new problem was discovered on the bridge at the North Golf Course. Hefley said there is now a small split in the bridge that must be addressed. The bridge, which has remained closed since the March flood, is still closed and will be for some time.

Judge Brown didn’t issue another declaration specifying the county as a disaster area after last week’s flood. The old declaration issued March 19 still stands because it is a continuing problem.

Brown said he is unsure how much money the county will receive from governmental sources for damage sustained in the floods; however, he said the county does qualify for federal relief just from the damage caused by the March flood.

Federal pays 75 percent of the cost of replacement while the state pays 12.5 percent. The county is responsible for the remaining 12.5 percent. Luckily, labor can be included in the match.

“It’s going to be a tremendous cost,” he said.

FEMA was scheduled to have a disaster recovery center set up in the former Arkansas Power and Light Building in Hardy from Tuesday through Friday in order for residents to register for assistance, Thornton said. They may also register by phone.

Thornton said she anticipates more floods this year.

“There is a good possibility this will happen again. Spring isn’t over yet,” she said.