PULLING TOGETHER
Residents join county officials and firefighters to help with evacuations, sandbags and more
GARLAND CITY, Ark.—Emergency management personnel and countless Miller County residents, officials and volunteer firefighters are working arduously day and night to address concerns along levees and help citizens evacuate, with help from the American Red Cross.
Terry Purvis, deputy director of emergency management for the county and mayor of nearby Fouke, Ark., said volunteers were working 24 hours a day, primarily keeping watch and addressing any concerns or problems including erosion that may be found on levees in the city.
Volunteer firefighters from Mandeville, Genoa, Bright Star, Bookerbridge, Garland and Pleasant Hill departments were a part of the crew, working in shifts to ensure
safety and keep citizens informed of danger.
Purvis said Arkansas Community Corrections inmates seemed glad to help out emergency management and were quickly and tirelessly throwing sandbags weighing about 40 pounds onto the levee.
“(Garland City) Mayor Tyeshekka Antwine has also been really helpful as well. She’s just awesome in keeping information flowing to the citizens of Garland,” Purvis said, adding that though many citizens are refusing to evacuate, “as the threat gets worse and worse, they may change their minds.”
“I do understand that America was built on the premise that a man’s home is his castle. However, if an emergency exists, and if it was up to me, everyone would evacuate. Nothing anyone owns is worth losing their life over,” he said.
Early Saturday afternoon, a shelter was being prepared at Beech Street Baptist Church in Texarkana, Ark., by the American Red Cross, according to Purvis.
County Clerk Stephanie Harvin and her husband, Cliff Harvin, were also at Doc’s Place seafood restaurant, where emergency management officials set up headquarters, because of flood threats that reports have compared to last major Red River flood in the Four States Area in May 1990.
The Harvins were just two of many volunteers working Saturday afternoon.
“We just all want to help out and come together. The county judge and many other county officials have been out here as well,” Stephanie Harvin said. “We just want to come together and keep everyone safe.”
Harvin said that emergency management does recommend that folks in Garland City evacuate, though it is not mandatory, and her job there was mainly to help sign volunteers in and out to make sure everyone was accounted for each day.
According to Purvis, the American Red Cross has offered transportation to any residents wishing to evacuate to the Beech Street shelter and will tend to any folks with medical needs, as well as the elderly.
Matthew Riddle of Mandeville Volunteer Fire Department said they have volunteered in Garland City for the past three or four days.
“The river is rising about 2 inches every hour,” Riddle said. “We are staying overnight if we need to.”
Purvis said late Saturday evening that only about a third of Garland City residents were planning to evacuate, despite firefighters’ going door to door. Purvis said volunteers reported that “some folks said they just weren’t going to leave.”
Stephen Nottingham of Genoa, Ark., owner of Nottingham Liquor Store up the road from Doc’s Place said though he doesn’t live in Garland City, he runs his business there and knows everyone in town. Nottingham said he was concerned. “The good Lord knows what he’s doing, though,” Nottingham said. “When it gets time, I’ll pack my stuff up and go. I hope the levees hold. I know they’ve worked tirelessly all week on them.”
Nottingham said the owners of Westshore restaurant on the inside of the levee helped raise him. He said the river was already about a foot from the restaurant’s front doors.
“I helped them move all their stuff out on Wednesday,” Nottingham said. “It is heartbreaking. That’s their livelihood. You can’t get insurance inside of the levee.”
Nottingham said he was 19 years old during the 1990 flood.
“It was something I thought I’d never see again in my lifetime,” Nottingham said, shaking his head. “The National Guard was here (in 1990). … They had weak spots on the levee. Thankfully, we had no devastation here then.”
Nottingham’s store is about two-tenths of a mile from the levee, but he said he feels the levee is good in that area.
“There are other areas of concern,” he said.
Joel Reeves, a semi-retired accountant from Buckner, Ark., came into the store to make a purchase and visit as Nottingham talked about the 1990 flood.
“It’s coming, Stevie-Ray,” Reeves announced as he walked through the door.
“When (Lake) Texoma gets full, you better get ready on this side of the county,” Reeves told Nottingham.
Nottingham half-smiled and responded, “When you see a trailer parked outside of here, you’ll know I’m leaving.”