Faulkner
Member
"NEWS ALERT: There has been a change projected in the crest date and level at the Toad Suck Lock & Dam from yesterday. The National Weather Service is predicting Toad Suck Lock & Dam to crest at 285.5 feet on June 2nd. They are anticipating this will be the WORST flooding in recorded history on the Arkansas River. Residents are encouraged to take actions now. Evacuations are strongly recommended."
I received the text message above on my iPhone from dispatcher Sunday afternoon. Due to heavy rains and runoff in Oklahoma the Arkansas River is in a bad way as the wall of water slowly makes is way through Arkansas. Up in the hills where I live we'll see no direct impact from the devastating flood waters as it cuts a wide swath through the Arkansas River Valley on it's way to the Mississippi River, but we know a lot of folks who are in the danger zone.
I called our sheriff to ask if our department's assistance had be requested yet? No, not yet. They still have a few more days until it gets real ugly. He did say the local Office of Emergency Services was asking for volunteers to help fill sandbags to help local businesses and residences.
My oldest son and daughter-in-law had brought our new granddaughter over Sunday evening while I cooked burgers on the grill. My youngest son, the new college grad, was also home. As i was turning the burgers I told my wife I'd decided that even though I was off Memorial Day, I was going to drive down and help fill sandbags. After a short discussion, it was decided my wife would play babysitter to our 4 month old grand daugher while my sons and daughter-in-law accompanied me.
We arrived at the volunteer fire department about 7:30 and folks were already filling sandbags. I was impressed with the organizational process of the whole affair, two tractors were keeping the loads of sand in place, they had frames built out of 2x4's that held traffic cones upside down with about six inches of their tops cut out for funnels. There were ten sandbag filling stations with folks shoveling in the sand, two people at each station taking the filled bags and tying them off, more people taking the filled bags and placing them in the front end loader of the tractors, then the tractors would take them to flatbed trailers or trucks. Once the vehicles were full they'd be off to distribute them as needed.
There were other folks, mostly older men and women, who were not able to shovel sand or man handle sandbags who made sure those who did took breaks and had someone else ready to step in their place. They set canvas covers with large fans as cooling tents for those taking a break and made sure we had plenty of cold water.
Around mid morning, someone out of the blue showed up with dozens of fast food hamburgers, and someone else showed up with several dozen pizza's. People just passing by would stop and drop off ice chests full of iced down water bottles.
Some of the workers came in and shoveled sand for only 30 minutes or an hour, others stayed most of the day. My sons, whom I'm very proud of, shoveled sand and man handled sandbags most of the day. When the Office of Emergency Management leader found out my daughter-in-law is a dental hygienist, they put her in charge of a first aid team to help prevent and address heat related issues and deal with any injuries. They put me on a tractor and I kept the sand coming for the bagging teams and loaded sandbags on the steady stream of pickups and trailers coming through all day.
Throughout the day I saw a cross section of folks working together to crank out as many sandbags as possible. The mayor of an unaffected down in my county was there working, and I worked along side a state representative who I didn't know for several hours. A state senator, who is a buddy of mine, filled bags for at least 6 hours. Not a few women and dozens of teenagers picked up a shovel and filled bags.
As my crew and I were stowing our gear after calling it a day all hot, filthy, and tired, the local county sheriff pulled in. We've been friends a number of years and when he saw me he came over and embraced me, and with a tear in his eye he said to me, "this is what it means to be an American!"
I received the text message above on my iPhone from dispatcher Sunday afternoon. Due to heavy rains and runoff in Oklahoma the Arkansas River is in a bad way as the wall of water slowly makes is way through Arkansas. Up in the hills where I live we'll see no direct impact from the devastating flood waters as it cuts a wide swath through the Arkansas River Valley on it's way to the Mississippi River, but we know a lot of folks who are in the danger zone.
I called our sheriff to ask if our department's assistance had be requested yet? No, not yet. They still have a few more days until it gets real ugly. He did say the local Office of Emergency Services was asking for volunteers to help fill sandbags to help local businesses and residences.
My oldest son and daughter-in-law had brought our new granddaughter over Sunday evening while I cooked burgers on the grill. My youngest son, the new college grad, was also home. As i was turning the burgers I told my wife I'd decided that even though I was off Memorial Day, I was going to drive down and help fill sandbags. After a short discussion, it was decided my wife would play babysitter to our 4 month old grand daugher while my sons and daughter-in-law accompanied me.
We arrived at the volunteer fire department about 7:30 and folks were already filling sandbags. I was impressed with the organizational process of the whole affair, two tractors were keeping the loads of sand in place, they had frames built out of 2x4's that held traffic cones upside down with about six inches of their tops cut out for funnels. There were ten sandbag filling stations with folks shoveling in the sand, two people at each station taking the filled bags and tying them off, more people taking the filled bags and placing them in the front end loader of the tractors, then the tractors would take them to flatbed trailers or trucks. Once the vehicles were full they'd be off to distribute them as needed.
There were other folks, mostly older men and women, who were not able to shovel sand or man handle sandbags who made sure those who did took breaks and had someone else ready to step in their place. They set canvas covers with large fans as cooling tents for those taking a break and made sure we had plenty of cold water.
Around mid morning, someone out of the blue showed up with dozens of fast food hamburgers, and someone else showed up with several dozen pizza's. People just passing by would stop and drop off ice chests full of iced down water bottles.
Some of the workers came in and shoveled sand for only 30 minutes or an hour, others stayed most of the day. My sons, whom I'm very proud of, shoveled sand and man handled sandbags most of the day. When the Office of Emergency Management leader found out my daughter-in-law is a dental hygienist, they put her in charge of a first aid team to help prevent and address heat related issues and deal with any injuries. They put me on a tractor and I kept the sand coming for the bagging teams and loaded sandbags on the steady stream of pickups and trailers coming through all day.
Throughout the day I saw a cross section of folks working together to crank out as many sandbags as possible. The mayor of an unaffected down in my county was there working, and I worked along side a state representative who I didn't know for several hours. A state senator, who is a buddy of mine, filled bags for at least 6 hours. Not a few women and dozens of teenagers picked up a shovel and filled bags.
As my crew and I were stowing our gear after calling it a day all hot, filthy, and tired, the local county sheriff pulled in. We've been friends a number of years and when he saw me he came over and embraced me, and with a tear in his eye he said to me, "this is what it means to be an American!"
