Friday 5 Jan. 2001
Everyone concentrated on surviving the cold and taking care of property. It was exciting and beautiful for the first day then it became worrisome. Thirty Arkansas counties, including Montgomery County, were included in the Major Disaster Declaration. Yesterday, 4th January, was the first day the temperatures got above 32 F since the Christmas Eve ice storm brought sleet and freezing rain on the area and left virtually all of West Central Arkansas without electricity and many other essential services as the ice caused limbs to crash from trees, utility poles to break wayback and power lines to fall.Many poultry farmers were concerned about the chickens begin without water and heat so the generators went first to the chicken houses. Hartley's store in Pencil Bluff obtained a generator and was pumping gas at certain times of the day for the local residents who were seeking fuel for critical generators for chicken houses and their homes. Generators were trucked into Hot Springs daily. Sears was selling then at a rate of 30 per hour. Many Montgomery County residents purchased generators which saved them from loosing their chickens and freezer food. Oden obtained a generator so the residences in the village limits had running water. In Hot Springs some managed to get out and obtain water from the hot springs.
The county road crews were particularity busy. Road conditions were treacherous. The roads were turned into ice skating rinks, very dangerous, especially for the elderly. By the Thursday 28th Dec. all the main roads were clear and dry. The Sheriffs Department did periodically check on those living alone out in the country areas. Thousands of acres of timber were destroyed during the storm. A tree damaged the Ranger Station at Oden. Trees and utility poles were topped, cracked, uprooted, felled at ground level and broken by the hundreds. New light poles can be seen on the way to Mt Ida. How will it effect the county's timber industry in the long run?
Convoys of crews from all across the country descended on the area in the wake of the ice storm. Two new crews arrived Saturday 2nd, 167 from Carolina Power and Light, others from Florida, and 500 people were sent to the Mount Ida and Glenwood areas. The crews from Florida worked the Oden, our area, (FPL) and did a fast job. The snow of about 4" on 29th Dec. put them a little behind. They don't drive in it very well. The county sand trucks came to their rescue. Electricity was restored Tuesday 2nd. Jan. in the Oden area. There was a trailer house burned at Oden due to an electricity surge when the power was turn back on. Another trailer house flooded when the electricity came back on and the ice maker pipe was frozen and nobody at home at that time to stop the water.
Entergy had 8,500 customers without electricity in its service area including parts of Pike, Clark, Montgomery, Hot Spring and Garland counties. Entergy brought in 856 linemen and tree trimmers and 125 support staff personnel to tackle the mammoth task of restoring power to area residents. At the height of the storm all South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative 9,363 members in seven counties lost power. 2,038 in Montgomery and Howard counties still without power on Tuesday 2nd Jan. In Mount Ida, the crews of linemen and tree trimmers came to the fairgrounds to eat and pickup fuel and materials, with most eating breakfast and lunch and often ate dinner at their motels.
Part of downtown Mena got their power on about 3am 30th Dec. There was over 15,000 thousand people in Polk County without power. Many stocked up with non perishable goods from the Wal-Mart Super Center in Mena. Wal-Mart was letting one customer at a time in and escorting them around to shop for necessities with a flash light until they got their generator going. It must have been a large generator as even the parking lot was lit and this was well appreciated. The rest of the town was in darkness. Mena was without water also as the water plant needed electricity to operate and no generator handy. Four way stop signs were placed at the intersections.
I would like to thank all who went out of there way to help the Montgomery County country folks. You sacrificed time away from your families during the holiday season. The pastor from Glenwood is out today in the Oden area with his chainsaw helping the widows clean up their yards. Thank you. Neighbors helped neighbors. Crews from South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kansas City, Missouri, and all over the state responded. Cheers, Olwyn.
PS. Rev. Eddie McCord passed away Jan. 20th 2009. He pastored many churches in our area. Bro. McCord will be greatly missed by all in the Caddo river Baptist Association. He was 80 and was buried at Mt. Ida.
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Debbie wrote Jan 8, 2001: "Yes, major problems. But, everyone did a wonderful job considering the situation. All phones were out except right in Mount Ida. Mount Ida's city water plant generator decided not to generate for about a day. But the mayor (my husband) and others worked around the clock to keep everything going. The guy that works on the State Capitol generators lives in Norman so we had him for almost two days and he got the generator going. Trees down, could have gotten there eventually, but stayed to help us. Many locals have plumbing problems because of frozen pipes, they had no heat or no water flowing or both.
I think every tree in the county is broken or pulled up by the roots. It is unbelievable. I made some video each day. Everyone did a good job. The county will sure look different for many years. So many trees lost. One area I saw that will never be the same is the Crystal Park Road just north of Norman. It was a scenic road. Not now. I went there on the third day because all communication towers are located there. It was ten times worse in that area. Cooler. We lost one tower there and the other two larger ones stayed. It is a wonder though. The ice was so thick it was hard to believe. We have so much clean-up.
You know how much extra trash 800-900 people make. Our county compactor was out of power for days. We feed these people at the fairgrounds. A disaster relief team came in to cook with their special food and equipment. Locals just had to serve and clean-up. Quite a task at that. The guys that came through the lines were just super. Many commented about coming back to the area to visit or buy land. We had crews in from 14 different states. I saw mainly Fl, NC, SC and KY"
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 515 AM CST SUN DEC 24 2000
WINTER STORM WATCH FOR CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY ACROSS MUCH OF
ARKANSAS.
AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES ON CHRISTMAS DAY. THIS LOW WILL THEN TRACK DOWN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY AND INTO THE NORTHERN GULF BY WEDNESDAY. IT WILL GIVE A WINTRY MIX OF PRECIPITATION FOR MUCH OF ARKANSAS BEGINNING CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON AND LASTING INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY. ENOUGH WARM AIR MAY GET INTO CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF ARKANSAS ON TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT FOR ANY FREEZING RAIN TO CHANGE OVER TO RAIN. BUT SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED.
Temperatures in F. Date Min Max Dew Point Dec. 21 2000 21 37 20 Dec. 22 11 37 8 Dec. 23 23 45 19 Dec. 24 Sun 18 45 23 Dec. 25 Mon 24 30 16 (precipitation .53 in / 1.4 cm) Dec. 26 Tues 27 47 not recorded Dec. 27 31 49 Dec. 28 31 51 Dec. 29 31 49 Dec. 30 33 51 Dec. 31 30 48 Jan 1 2001 13 28 15 Jan 2 12 28 15 Jan 3 6 (-14 C) 37 15 Jan 4 19 (-7 C) 54 24 Jan 5 27 (-3 C) 57 28 Jan 6 24 (-4 C) 62 24 Jan 7 32 (0 C) 56 31 Jan 8 27(-3 C) 49 27 Jan 9 20 47 21 Jan 10 20 42 22 Jan 11 34 39 33 Jan 12 37 41 36 Twelve weeks later the county and residents are still cleaning up.
March 27 2001
The verges of the roads were still covered with branches after the Christmas ice storm. Thousands of trees had their tops out, snapped, leaning or uprooted. A debris removal crew from Alabama is working their way through the county removing tree limbs from the roadsides. The contract estimated at $2.1 million is based on 321 cubic yards of debris per mile of roadway with approx. 450 miles of county roads to be cleared. $14.67 per cubic yard to pick up and dispose. They were working the Blowout Mountain area last week and the Forest Service was cleaning up Big Brushy Recreational area so that is now open since 23 March. FEMA will pay 90% of the clean up costs, the State of AR 5% and Montgomery Co. 5%.
Nearly 2,600 miles of USFS roads still closed at the end of January and 650 miles of trails blocked in the Ouachita National Forest. Even during the summer the trails will be hazardous and every time the wind blows more limbs fall. It is estimated there is 3-5 tons more ground cover per acre than usual so if the summer is hot a potential fire hazard will exist. The forest service roads are real soft and torn up as they softened during the ice storm. The roads all need gravel.
''On a scale from one to 10, this is a 12,'' Gov. Mike
Huckabee said Wednesday Dec. 27, assessing the damage.
'This storm has not
been kind to us.''
Montgomery Co. ARGenWeb Project
Ice storm photos Bill Ray January 2001
