It has been a summer of extreme heat throughout Arkansas and the Mississippi River Valley that has seen record high temperatures and many consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. Rainfall has been sparse, and many have found themselves simply trying to hang on until the fall season and the arrival of cooler temperatures. And on a late Sunday night in Paris, a welcomed hope for rain quickly turned into disaster for the entire town.
On late Sunday evening, July 17, 2022, weather warnings for thunderstorms and eventually a “very dangerous thunderstorm warning” began to arrive on our cell phones, smart watches, etc. And just after midnight, it hit. There were no tornado sirens sounding in the middle of the night, and the people of Paris were hit virtually without warning.
With the wind force of a small tornado, straight line, or a possible downburst associated with forced high speed winds rushed into the town of Paris. Trees, power lines, signage, and structural damage occurred within minutes. Approximately 2000 citizens immediately lost power around 12:05 a.m. on July 18. All of the sudden, everything was dark, and the immediate concern became the high temperature that would surely be upon everyone starting at sunrise without the possibility of electrical power for air conditioning. Refrigerated and frozen foods became an issue, and, if all of this were not enough, the pumping station for the city’s water towers were without electrical power. The reserve water levels in the tanks would begin to drop dramatically without being replenished. So, in a matter of just a few short minutes, the city of Paris was in a near state of disaster.
But as it often occurs, in the face of tragedy arises some of the most inspirational stories. The City of Paris, led by their mayor, Daniel Rogers, immediately took action to begin the long process of cleaning up the city and restoring power. The electrical restoration of the water system was the first priority, as the city needed water immediately, both for its citizens, and for fire fighting protection. But when Rogers and the rest of the city officials and maintenance initially assessed the damage in the early morning darkness, the estimate was approximately 20 downed power poles. When daylight finally came the next day, that assessment grew to many more; approximately 60 downed power poles. Rogers commented that the city was essentially rebuilding much of the city’s power grid.
In the meantime, the people of Paris were suffering from extreme heat. Many were without power for approximately 18 hours, and another significant number of homes were without power for days. The city successfully repaired the water towers to operation by noon on Monday, but asked its citizens to conserve water due to the water towers being nearly empty. According to the mayor, the tanks were within just a few feet of being dry.
Mayor Rogers was gracious enough to provide some remarks for RNN, although he was extremely busy each day leading the recovery effort for Paris. When I asked the Paris mayor for his comments, he began by saying, “This storm was the worst wind-related storm in decades for the city. Sixty plus poles are being replaced due to being broken by the high winds. The last big wind event was June 2008 and it destroyed 32 poles. In March of this year, the city council passed a resolution that I recommended to enter into a mutual aid agreement with other AMPA (Arkansas Municipal Power Association) cities. That agreement allowed us to ask for aid from those cities which really helped the city restore power within 72 hours despite the large amount of damage to the electrical system. I was able to reach out and get commitments from Jonesboro and Conway to assist in the power restoration. We also reached out to MDR Construction which is a contract crew that specializes in storm recovery.”
Indeed, the proactive and visionary leadership of Mayor Rogers, the city council, city attorney Cory Wells, and the outstanding support of the Paris Area Chamber of Commerce, led by its executive director, Tonya Fletcher, served all of the citizens of Paris well and served as a model of leadership in extreme crisis for all to see and follow. But perhaps most inspirational was the drive and determination of the citizens of Paris and the support the city received from communities surrounding Paris. Mayor Rogers commented, “I’m so proud of the citizens for showcasing the city in such a positive way to the state through their willingness to volunteer and come together to help one another. I love how our community responded.”
Tonya Fletcher, executive director for the Paris Area Chamber of Commerce, reinforced the mayor’s comments by adding, “The biggest comment I would make about the recent storms is the willingness from the community and surrounding areas to bring support to help our community has been heart warming. Everyone from the City of Paris, Paris school district, local businesses, neighboring communities, churches, law enforcement, outside agencies and individuals have stepped up in a big way to help those in need. The Chamber staff was able to help organize many areas of need from water, cooling stations, food preparation, food delivery, notifications to the community, donations for needed items, and so much more.” Local businesses, such as the restaurant “Smokin Taters BBQ” provided meals and hydration for the power line crews who were working hard to restore power to the city.
Communities surrounding Paris, such as, but not limited to Scranton and Magazine have jumped in to provide aid and assistance to Paris in the aftermath of the storm. Many of those communities came to the assistance for Paris without being asked. It is just what good neighbors do, and Paris owes each of these communities a return of the favor if they are ever in need, as well.
Anyone who is familiar with Paris knows that the town is known for its beautiful trees. Unfortunately, many of those trees were damaged. Some fell on homes and businesses, some blocked streets and brought down both power lines and poles. Chism street was especially affected, but was certainly not alone as damage occurred all over the city.
As of press time for this story, much, if not all of the power for the town has been restored. The Thursday morning temperatures from last week cooled a little with much of the morning being overcast and providing welcomed cloud cover for the town and the many electrical crews that were still working to install new poles and power lines. But the morning clouds gave way to extreme heat again that afternoon.
All in all, the town of Paris and its people were blessed that the damage was not any worse that it turned out to be. In fact, I can’t help but to have a renewed sense of compassion and empathy for those people and towns who have gone through a devastating tornado. This event was bad enough; I cannot imagine it being any worse.
The town was blessed by so many who came running to us to help clean-up and restore our town. They possibly saved lives by restoring power, air conditioning, and water to the citizens of Paris. The out of town power crews worked many long, hot hours on a power system that was not that of their own home towns, but they came to our aid, and we are grateful.
And to our mayor and all of the civic leaders in Paris, thank you from a grateful town. Your actions were a model for great leadership, and we are lucky to have you serving our great town. Thank you for taking time to post video updates on social media each day, so that we were not left wondering what was happening, and when things would be better for all of us. And thank you to the great towns throughout Logan County and the surrounding region for being awesome neighbors and coming to our assistance. Each of you is why western Arkansas is such a great place to live.
Perhaps Chamber director Tonya Fletcher summed it up best by saying, “One thing is for sure, we as a community joined together as family in time of need. I hope that momentum continues and we all remain thankful.”
So, citizens of Paris, you have banded together to quickly restore your town from an unexpected, violent storm, and you have much to be proud of. Better times are coming as the fall and the start of a new school year are just around the corner. Hang in there, but take pride in how you have all persevered through a very tough time. You are…PARIS STRONG!
