Access to Lookout Point still restricted
Strong winds that raked areas off Highway 7 south Tuesday limited access to Lookout Point as county road crews waited for Entergy Arkansas Inc. to remove downed power lines from toppled trees blocking the roadway Wednesday.
Garland County Department of Emergency Management Director Bo Robertson said access to the Lookout Point area was still being restricted Wednesday afternoon as Entergy contract crews worked to lift downed power lines and replace damaged utility poles. He said
about two dozen bucket trucks made the road almost impassable for residents.
“We’re not letting people drive their vehicles back there,” he said. “There’s contract electrical company trucks, tree service trucks and (county) trucks back there. We want to give them a wide berth so they can get their work done without people driving too close to them.
“There’s still a of trees down with wires in them. They’re putting poles in the ground so the lines can be lifted and homeowners can get back to their homes. It’s a safety deal right now. And we want to make sure nobody’s being opportunistic and trying to loot homes while the power’s off.”
Robertson said the county road department reopened Long Island Drive about 10 p.m. Tuesday. The department of emergency management used a sideby-side ATV borrowed from the Lake Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department to shuttle Long Island Drive residents to their homes until about 11 p.m.
“We’d have people tell us their address and we’d drive them back there,” Robertson said. “There’s limbs everywhere and slick pine needles. A lot of elderly people live back there. We’re still trying to shuttle people on Lookout Point.
“I would like to thank the people on Long Island Drive and Lookout Point for their patience and resilience. It was not a good situation for a lot of people, but they took it in stride.”
Robertson said stormwater that climbed over Highway 7 north in front of Fountain Lake School and the 5100 block of Airport Road quickly receded after Tuesday’s heavy rains abated.
“The main issue was microbursts pushing down trees on roads and houses,” he said.
Robertson said he had identified six houses outside the city limits damaged by downed trees. The National Weather Service in Little Rock said it wasn’t sending a storm analysis team to the area, as radar data showed straight-line winds caused the damage. The department of emergency management said its analysis showed no signs of tornadic activity.
“All evidence we’ve seen so far points to a heavy downburst or straight-line wind events,” a post on the department’s Facebook page said. “Nothing seen that would suggest a tornado event, so far.”
Robertson said initial assessments indicate the county didn’t incur damages or clean up costs rising to the $361,000 threshold needed for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance.
“We’re not going to meet that,” he said. “Most of the damage was done to Entergy’s infrastructure.”
County Judge Rick Davis said power was restored at the Garland County Court House at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after an outage had closed it earlier in the day. The generator in the old county detention center powered the adjoining sheriff’s department after the storm, making it the county complex’s only building with power Tuesday afternoon. Davis said the courthouse has a small generator to back up computer information.
He said Tuesday’s downpour reaffirmed the poor condition of many county buildings’ roofs. Grants, general fund money and private donations paid for a new courthouse roof about two years ago, but roofs over many other county facilities are in disrepair.
“The sheriff’s office is the worst,” Davis said. “Anytime it rains you can go around the building and see buckets set out to catch the water. Some of the equipment in the 911 dispatch area has to be covered with plastic bags when it rains. We’ve declared that a priority, and we’re working to find money to get started fixing it after the first of the year.”
The Garland County Chapter of the American Red Cross said residents it visited in the affected areas didn’t need assistance.
“They stayed in their homes or said they were going to stay with family and friends,” Bridgette Williams, Red Cross regional communications officer, said. “They didn’t need immediate assistance.”