Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Snowfall Follows Ice

No part of Clark County was untouched by the ice and snow storm ending the year 2000.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith said there's no telling how much it will cost to repair the city's streets because of the ice and freezing temperatures, and a full assessment of the damage can't be made yet.

Still, he's been working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to get money to have the debris removed, along with other costs associated with the disaster.

A letter has been sent to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) to help cover the cost of the disaster.

FEMA, Smith said, will pay 75 percent of the cleanup costs, while ADEM normally pays 12.5 percent, leaving the city to find the rest of the money.

The city, he said, will do a curbside pickup to help homeowners get rid of the limbs and trees from their property.

A group from North Carolina's Baptist Men's Association was in the area helping clear debris from people's houses and yards. Homeowners had to sign a waiver of liability before the work could be done.

These men brought the debris to the street to be picked up later.

Clark County Judge Floyd "Buddy" Manning agreed the extent of the damage isn't known and won't be for some time.

He, and mayors from across Clark County, met with FEMA officials regularly last week to discuss the situation and find out how much help they could expect to get.

The problem, he said, is there was major damage throughout the county and no one knows what it will cost to repair.

"We tried to make sure all the roads were open," Manning said, "so people could get in and out. We tried to do some grading, but couldn't because the ground was frozen."

Every road in the county was affected by the storm, he said. The county lost one bridge because of the storm, and another has debris against it.

But, he said, no one was hurt or killed because of the disaster.

He praised the utility companies for their rapid response in getting workers out and working to get electricity back on as quickly as possible to as many as possible.

Still, though, there are some in the county without electricity.

"I think timber is the main problem, and when this thaws the roads will be a big problem," he said.

"Once we know what we're getting in relief, we'll know how to proceed."

During the storm Manning's priority was to get the roads open. He pulled crews from their other jobs with the county and put them on the road and bridge crew to help get the roads cleared.

Most of the roads were opened quickly so people could get in and out.

Manning spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get answers to questions of relief. He also made sure all emergency services were open and operational.

At one time the Clark County Sheriff's Office had no way of getting gasoline for the patrol cars. Don Smithpeters brought a tanker from Gurdon to Arkadelphia to make sure ambulances were filled with gas, as were police and fire crews. All generators were filled as well.

Manning said the county had enough electricity Thursday, Dec. 28, to power some computers so payroll and the end-of-the-month books could be done.

The biggest headache, he said, was the lack of communication. Without electricity the radio stations were off the air, as was cable television.

Students in the Gurdon School District got an extra week off because of the storm, but this time will have to be made up somehow.

Superintendent Bobby Smithson said buses couldn't run in the Vaden and Kansas areas as they were covered in ice.

The roads were checked daily during and after the storm, with students returning to class Monday, Jan. 8.There was also some damage to the schools because of the storm. A water line burst at Gurdon High School flooding the cafeteria and band room.

Tiles will have to be replaced in the cafeteria, while the band hall will get a new carpet. Smithson said the district's insurance should cover the water damage, which he estimated being $4,000 to $5,000.

A limb fell on the fence at Gurdon Primary School, doing relatively little damage.

The Gurdon School Board will discuss how the six days missed because of winter weather are to be made up.

Smithson said the district had a couple of long weekends planned, and these could be canceled, or the six days could be added at the end of the year.

Don Morehead, controller at International Paper Co., said damage at the plant on Highway 67 wasn't severe.

With the timber market being depressed now, he said, the company wasn't really hurt by the storms. "As far as the plant goes, it couldn't have happened at a better time."

However, Morehead said it was also sad because employees were unable to work and missed a paycheck.

The full extent of damage won't be known for several years, he said, but the young trees damaged by the storm will likely be used as chip and pulpwood.

The smaller timber was really hurt, he said, especially where it had been thinned.

IP employees lost four days because of the storm and Morehead said the loss of the wages has hurt morale.

State Senator Percy Malone hasn't been idle during the disaster.

Malone spent last week in Little Rock successfully pushing to get a resolution adopted requesting FEMA to pay 100 percent of the cleanup costs instead of 75 percent.

FEMA, he said, has had teams in the area doing assessments, with five groups working to cover all the counties affected by the storms.

The idea, he said, is to get money flowing into the area as soon as possible to pay for the cleanup and get individuals affected by the disaster help as well.