Mall, other businesses affected by weather

Tuesday’s severe weather shut down many local businesses in addition to leaving a large number of residents in the dark for the majority of the day.

“I stayed in my safe room and did not hear the trees fall. The sound of the wind and rain was as loud as I’ve ever heard, and I grew up in tornado country,” said Hot Springs resident Isobel McQuiston, who lives in the Lake Hamilton area near Highway 7 south.

“There were two trees uprooted and a third stripped; most likely all will have to come down. The smaller pine trees along the fence with my neighbor to the west were also uprooted. They are the same as the one that fell over the driveway.”

Hot Springs Mall lost electricity from noon to 10 p.m., according to general manager Scott Green. He made the

decision to close the business around 1:30-2 p.m. for the remainder of the day after utility crews said it would take most of the day for power to be restored.

“We had some downed limbs and there is something down on (a street) behind us and they’re still blocking off one of our back entrances,” Green added. “When the power came back on, luckily we didn’t have any real damage; we had some limbs down and some trash issues, but that was it.”

Hobby Lobby, Country Inn and Suites, and Kroger located at 4407 Central Ave. were a few of the businesses that had minimal power loss and damage.

Marcie Garner of Country Inn and Suites said the hotel lost power for only a few minutes and the building and parking lot suffered no significant damage.

“Just branches and leaves down everywhere,” she said.

One business still without power on Wednesday was Clarion On The Lake.

“Our phones are down but we’re there,” said Kayla Williams, Clarion sales manager. “We have one computer up and running on a line pulled through the generator. The power went out around 11:30 a.m. or noon and we’re still sitting in the dark.”

Entergy says power should be restored to the hotel by midnight Wednesday.

“We have had a couple people check out, and then we have a volleyball team that we are doing everything in our power to accommodate and take care of,” Williams said.

McQuiston added that she thinks her home received the brunt of the storm in her area and that several homes in her neighborhood have tarps on their roofs and limbs in their yards. A tree fell across her driveway when the powerful winds lifted it out of the ground with the roots still attached.

“I still have a beautiful lot where the birds love to gather,” she said. “I’m sure the ducks that I feed at my back door are a little out of quack.”