Memorial Day is traditionally a huge weekend for the economy of Eureka Springs as visitors flock to town for the start of the tourism season. This year it will be remembered as a frightening, disruptive weekend with tornado sirens blaring in the middle of the night, high winds, hail, and torrential rainfall. Many people reported taking shelter as the massive storms hit both Saturday and Sunday nights causing widespread damage and power outages.
Eureka Springs didn’t experience a direct hit from a tornado, but the foul weather took a big toll on the city’s tree inventory with about 14 streets initially blocked by downed trees, and extensive damage to the Dog Park and the Music Park.
Tornadoes did far more damage in Rogers where photos of the devastation were prominently featured in news outlets around the country. Tens of thousands of people were without power and many lost phone and internet services, as well.
It took an economic toll on Eureka Springs’ area businesses, as well, with some tourist lodging operators reporting that guests wanted their money back because of the lack of power. Restaurants and shops that are normally busy took a major financial hit.
Mayor Butch Berry said the storm wasn’t as big as the ice storm in 2009 when there were trees down everywhere and a lot of the city was out of power for a week.
“That is probably the worst storm I remember,” Berry said. “But this one comes close. The winds were blowing these trees down and pulling them up by their roots. We are blessed that we didn’t have a lot of physical property damage. We had a lot of trees down, but not that many fell on buildings. We were lucky to not have the physical damage that they had in Rogers.”
Berry said employees of Public Works did an outstanding job.
“They were out there as soon as it was safe,” Berry said. “We had a lot of trees blocking roads. Public Works was out there working with utility companies clearing the roads to make sure we had passage so fire trucks, ambulances and police could all get through. They did a great job. All the utilities pitched in. We got daily reports from SWEPCO about power restoration.”
At Berry’s home, he looked around after the storm and thought they had been really lucky. Then he walked around the house and saw where a tree limb had pulled the phone service out of the wall. He said people should keep an eye out for loose limbs hanging in trees that can fall when it gets windy.
“Make sure if you are out there and have people removing trees to check on other trees for dead limbs to cut those out while they are out there,” Berry said., “Take some safety precautions.”
In addition to keeping track of the costs of labor and materials used for the cleanup, Berry said the city is asking people to inform Public Works Director Simon Wiley (479 253-9600) about any damages to their buildings and facilities. The city will be applying to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for financial assistance.
Wiley said he has submitted $67,167.72 thus far for potential reimbursement from the state or FEMA. Aside from the tree damages, the largest issue by far was the lack of power at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). With power out, they used a large on-site generator to keep the plant operating.
“Of the request, $56,490.36 of the reimbursement request was for WWTP operations as we spent over $4,000 in diesel for the generator and had to physically man the plant to make sure we remained in compliance with state and federal laws. I will be submitting more as we have the data for reimbursement. This potential reimbursement is not available for private property damages yet.”
Asked where the worst damage was, Wiley said, “Everywhere. The rain that occurred early Sunday morning caused washouts. The storm that occurred Sunday evening caused wind damage city wide. Public Works began working on Sunday to clean up the storm damage that occurred early that morning and worked through Memorial Day. We have had an excellent response from the staff coming in during the long weekend. Public Works staff always deserves recognition and credit. They work hard every day to keep our beloved city going.”
A list of roads blocked by street include Steele, Crescent, Hillside, East Mountain, Echols, Angus, Council, Spring, Oregon/Grand, Benton, Pivot Rock, Armstrong, Mill Hollow, and Fuller.
Roughly 300 cubic yards of storm debris had been removed by the city as of June 3 with that number expected to grow.
Parks Director Sam Dudley said the storms did considerable damage to most of the city parks.
“Black Bass was relatively unfazed, to my surprise,” Dudley wrote in an email. “The Bark Park had about 7-8 large trees fall, which did a good amount of damage to the fencing. We have the Bark Park closed until we can fix the issues. Lake Leatherwood also had some serious trees come down, including two hickory trees that blocked the ballfield entrance and one behind the bathhouse.”
The trails probably suffered the largest amount of damage. The downhill trails alone had about 30 downed trees that were cleared as of June 3.
“I know from friends who use the multi-use trails that there are plenty of downed trees on those to clear as well,” Dudley said. “We hope to have all these cleared by the end of this week.”
An estimated 300 homes were destroyed in the Northwest Arkansas area. But just over a week after the storm, American Electric Power/SWEPCO and Carroll Electric Cooperative Corp., reported that 99.9 percent of power had been restored to its service area.
A press release from SWEPCO said repairs included clearing hundreds of downed trees to safely access more than 500 unique work locations, replacing approximately 400 broken utility poles, restringing more than eight miles of electrical wire, replacing more than 75 transformers, and more.
SWEPCO said some restoration work included complex repairs. To aid in the effort, SWEPCO called in added resources including about 700 additional tree, line and crew responders.
CECC spokesman Cory Smith said while it is too early to know the exact cost of repairs, the company estimates the total damage restoration will exceed $40 million.
CECC identified 1,200 broken poles (among other damages) that had to be replaced to fully restore service to all account locations, Smith wrote in an email. The utility’s outage records indicate that more than 64,000 services were out of power at the height of the storm early Sunday morning including 4,500 in Carroll County.
Access to facilities and weather conditions slowed restoration efforts. In addition to the CECC’s internal crews, 205 outside crews (both line services and right-of-way clearance) and 580 pieces of equipment were committed to assist with restoration from at least 11 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas. Altogether, it was estimated that more than 1,000 individuals (both internal and external) assisted with restoration efforts.