Hot Springs is still cleaning up after the powerful storms

Hot Springs, Arkansas – Hot Springs city crews are still cleaning up after last month’s EF-2 tornado and clearing out debris from Monday night’s storms.

The City of Hot Springs is cleaning up almost nonstop following strong storms last month and last Monday night.

Denny McPhate, the deputy city manager, has been in charge of the work for the past few weeks.

“We had, I think, 23 streets that were blocked with trees [Monday] night,” McPhate said. “[The] crew started about four o’clock when the storms rolled in. They were way up into the night.”

The city has gathered about a thousand trucks’ worth of debris, and all those fallen trees end up to the compost site.

“We take storm debris out of people’s yards and leaves, and we turn it in and mix it with sludge from our wastewater plant,” McPhate said. “Turn it into compost that we just redistribute back out to the community.”

The city’s resources have been fully utilized for the past three weeks, and Monday night’s storms caused even more delays to construction; but, a regular schedule may soon resume.

“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” McPhate said. “We had piles about four times as big when we first started… I think by the end of next week, we’ll stop scheduling, and everyday pickup will go pretty much to where we’ll call you to call those that will come out.”

As the cleanup proceeds, the city is hoping that both the locals and the weather will cooperate. McPhate advised anyone with inquiries to get in touch with the city’s public works department.

The Hot Springs Board of Realtors will assist with those papers at their Orange Street office until 4 p.m. on Wednesday for Hot Springs homeowners who require financial assistance following the hurricane.