Things were different during flood of 1990

Six of us currently on staff were here in 1990 when the Red River last threatened: Greg Bischof, Jim Williamson, Guy Wheatley, Louie Avery, Russell McDermott and me.

Two— Avery and McDermott—weren’t involved in coverage: Avery being a sports guy and McDermott a copy editor at the time.

Wheatley, who back then supervised page production, did some map and information graphics for publication. (Interesting enough, he also moonlighted at a local T-shirt company and designed the first commemorative T-shirt to hit the street after the waters started to recede: “Rampaging Red-The Flood Of 1990: I Survived The Big One.”)

Bischof, our most senior reporter now, was a rookie then. He had been at the Gazette less than a year, covering Miller County and the weekend police beat. Flood coverage was not among his primary responsibilities.

I was three years into my stint as managing editor, so I was obviously in deep.

Williamson, who now covers Miller County and Southwest Arkansas for the Gazette, then owned his own newspaper in Ashdown, Ark., 17 miles north of Texarkana. He did the bulk of the written and photographic coverage, plus managed the contributions of his remaining staff. He was in deep, too.

That’s the extent of the newsroom’s remaining institutional memory. (Of course in 1990, the newsroom had no institutional memory of the previous big one, the flood of 1957. So we are a little better off now.)

Jim and I chuckled last week when we realized that at some point 25 years ago, he was standing somewhere on the north side of Index Bridge looking south over the floodwater, while I was standing on the south side looking north over the same untamed flow. Had we each had binoculars, we might have seen each other across the way. (Actually, because of the lay of the land, that would have been impossible.) Still, this possibility had never before entered our foggy old minds, and since we didn’t know each other back then and wouldn’t have recognized each other, the thought mildly amused us.

Comparing what happened in 1990 with today’s flooding, which is a bit premature because it’s a work in progress, two differences immediately stick out: Advanced information and preparation has been much better this time out. And the ability to deliver meaningful information quickly to each other—officials and the public alike—has improved dramatically.

To the first point: In 1990, there wasn’t much advanced warning. The flooding was almost on top of us before the countryside could respond. That’s why we had photos of stranded livestock being lifted up and hauled to safety by military helicopters. That’s why ranchers were leading horses through waist-deep floodwater to higher ground while they still could. That’s why folks in some low-lying areas were emptying their houses in flat-bottom boats.

This time, the warnings were heard and heeded. The call went out. This time, livestock and equipment were moved away from the river and to higher ground ahead of the threat. This time, residents and officials were proactive instead of reactive.

Also, our ability to disseminate information has improved drastically in 25 years.

In 1990, there was no Internet, no Websites, no social media, no text messaging. The cellphone was yet to be ubiquitous. Media had only traditional avenues to dispense news. The idea of 24/7 updates was not an idea at all yet—certainly not locally. So much of the news dispensed then was hours, even half a day old.

Today, newspapers and other media have lots of options to get information out quickly, from Websites, to Facebook to Twitter and Instagram.

Beyond that, and because of the Internet, officials can also exchange technical information rapidly. What’s going on throughout the Red River basin or Sulphur River basin can be viewed and measured in real time and outcomes projected with a high degree of accuracy.

And with mobile phones and tablets, many people can get up-to-date information on the spot and exchange it in a click. Weather reports, flood reports, road closings, river levels and flood stages are all available in ways that were unavailable in 1990. Person-to-person exchanges in many ways are vital in getting important news out—and most only a text or a call away.

All of this was absent from the equation in 1990.

The history of this flood has yet to be finished. We’ve got at least another week of river-watching How bad it gets may well depend on how the levees hold up and/or where they are breached.

Time and technology may have improved our ability to deal with this nature-born trauma, but neither can redirect the flow of a powerful river when it escapes its natural and manmade boundaries and goes on a rampage.

If this happens, all you can hope for is good information, enough time to apply it and enough sense to get out of the way.