70 Arkansas Counties Still Recovering After Spring’s Disastrous Weather

By Lamar James, U of A Cooperative Extension

09-05-2008

LITTLE ROCK - The unusually mild summer coupled with preparations for back-to-school have kept our minds preoccupied, but the clean-up and rebuilding from the spring tornadoes, wind storms and floods continues.

Gov. Mike Beebe declared 10 Arkansas counties disaster areas after tornadoes killed more than a dozen Arkansans and injured about 150 more. Clean-up from the late spring and summer floods is still causing issues for homeowners, farmers and ranchers in Baxter, Conway, Independence, Izard, Pope, Randolph, Sharp, Stone, Union and Van Buren counties.

Tornadoes in January and February created a trail of destruction, and weeks later, rain led to massive and sustained flooding causing the governor of Arkansas to declare more than 70 counties in the state as disaster sites.

“Between Jan. 4 and May 5, residents of Arkansas have seen enough weather-related disasters to last a lifetime,” said John Centamore, a coordinator for Lutheran Disaster Response, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

“The shock of tornadoes is what throws you,” said Phil Sims, Pope County extension agent with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. “Where do you start? Where do you finish? Everything is gone.”

Sims said the flooding in low areas in north-central Arkansas caused losses in hay, cattle and fencing. Many farmers and ranchers are choosing not to replace the fencing because of cost while others are choosing to participate in hardwood timber programs rather than restock cattle along flood streams.

“The poultry hatchery in Atkins and feed mill in Clinton were destroyed during the storms and won’t be rebuilt,” Sims said. “The Caldwell Feed Mill in Van Buren was knocked off its foundation.”

Caldwell Feed Mill makes organic dairy feed, and because it hasn’t returned to production, farmers using organic feed must now have it trucked in, causing operating costs to rise.

“This was about as devastated as you’ll ever see,” Gov. Mike Beebe told The Associated Press while touring Atkins after the storms. The governor’s office authorized the release of $250,000 from the Governor’s Disaster Fund and submitted a request to the federal government for disaster assistance. President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, all pledged their support.

For more information about agriculture, visit extension’s Web site, http://www.uaex.edu, or contact your county extension agent. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.