Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: The recovery continues in Bend county and other parts of North Arkansas from the devastating storms that hit us on May 26. In the midst of that, one local organization is trying to ensure that the story of the storm is preserved. We're going to talk about that on this week's edition of the Know the news podcast.
Hi, everybody. I'm Dave Perozyk. You know the news podcast this week. Joining me on the podcast, I'm pleased to welcome Serena Barnett. She's director of the Rogers Historical Museum. Thank you so much, Serena, for joining us this morning.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Well, thank you, Dave, for having me.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: So, you know, first of all, as we all know, Rogers was hit very hard by this storm.
Just curious, what was your personal experience? How were you personally affected and what was the effect on the historical museum?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Well, my home was actually, I live in southwest Rogers, so we fortunately didn't have any damage. But as far as personal, I mean, the museum is in downtown Rogers. And that was where my first thought was what is going on at the museum and what will need to be done to address any damage that would have been done at the tornado. And, you know, Sunday morning, as soon as we could, my staff, we assessed the damage and luckily found that very little had been done. We lost a few trees.
Our heritage apple orchard was among the fatalities of the trees.
But overall, we were very lucky.
After seeing the rest of downtown Rogers and other areas that were affected, it could have been so much worse overall. And I feel our community is also very lucky that more lives weren't lost in this storm.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah.
So I want to mention that our Rogers City reporter, Campbell Roper, is writing a story about the effort that you and the historical museum, our undertaking to document the storm that we're going to publish this weekend. So could you share with us a little bit about that project?
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Sure. So our mission here at the Rogers Historical Museum is to preserve our history. And, you know, this event is a very memorable event in our history. And we definitely want to ensure that we save any documentation, photographs, stories from this event so that we will be able to have that for people in our communities for the future.
And now is the time to be doing that? Well, it's, you know, people are still remembering the events that took place. And so we decided to reach out to our community and ask them to share with us their photographs, their personal stories of the event. And one of the things that I just think is amazing is our community has come together and we have helped each other in ways that you just don't hear that in other stories. That have been similar, other disasters in other parts of the country and other cities. And it was immediate. People were literally their homes destroyed, but they were out there helping feed the community and helping clean up. And it's just amazing to me that we have such a heartfelt community around us here. And I want us here at the museum to encapsulate those stories, to remember those stories, because that is truly the biggest story that has come out of this horrible event is our community, what we have done to bounce back from this.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah. And so you've put out the call for photos and whatnot.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: We're asking for people to share with us their photographs and if they're willing to write down their personal story, their experience with the storm, whether it's maybe they had damage to their home or maybe they were part of some of the support organizations that were going out and helping either raise funds or to feed the workers or to help put roofs back on homes, whatever they were working on to help support the rebuilding and reconstruction of our community here. And we're collecting ongoing, we don't have an end date to this.
So if you think in a month's time you're like, oh, I really want to be able to share my story and everything with the museum, please do. We are very, very willing at any time to accept your pictures and your stories on this.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Are you taking audio, video?
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Yeah, actually, we actually do already have a couple of videos that people have shared with us, and those are great because you really can see and hear everything as it's happening in a video, which you can't really don't get translated as well in a photograph. So, yeah, I mean, we're happy to take videos as well as photographs.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: And you've collected quite a bit so far?
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Actually, yes, we've had about 50 different entries, and they're from all over Rogers, Decatur, the primary areas, few bitton villains.
And it's amazing to see.
I mean, every image tells a story. You know, every image, it relates to a family or a business that was impacted. And, you know, it goes back to the stories of the people of our community, is what, what these photos will be able to allow us to tell.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: The story of anything in particular that's really surprised you or really, I mean, shocked you from what you've seen so far?
[00:06:59] Speaker B: Well, just how close of a call it was for some folks. Some, I mean, we, for instance, one photograph was submitted to, to us, my grandfather, who their, I think six year old granddaughter was staying the night with them, and they got to their safe space. And within 30 seconds, her bedroom roof collapsed on her bed, and the picture is of her bedroom and all the destruction. And it just makes your heart ache to think that that poor girl was that close to another end result.
It's quite something to see these images, and someday we do hope to be able to use them in some kind of an exhibit or share them in some way. But right now, we're just at the collecting phase of it.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
I wanted to ask, where does this storm, May 26 storm, fit in with the history of other natural disasters that have affected Rogers? You know, immediately I think of the 2009 ice storm.
I had gotten here about four months earlier, so. But how does May 26 compare to some of the other natural disasters in our area?
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Well, this one definitely is the worst one we've ever experienced.
There was a tornado that came through Rogers in 2019. I'm sure you've seen, if you've been on social media, you've seen the weather meteorologist sharing the photograph of the two storm paths that just, they're lined up with each other. They're very close.
But that was the only other tornado in Rogers that we have ever experienced.
There have been other tornadoes in the county, of course. You know, you always hear, you know, Xylem Springs, usually on the west side of the county, is affected by tornadoes. And then there was in 1947, a tornado that went through Brightwater, which is just northeast of Rogers, and it did kill seven individuals, most of which were one family.
But that was the last time we had such a close call with the tornado until now.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: And you're seeing just downtown Rogers.
You're right there talking.
I think you talked about it a little bit earlier, but what are you seeing in terms of the cleanup there?
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Cleanup is doing well. There's still some piles of tree debris in the residential areas, and there is still, of course, some building damage. The historic district did receive some wind damage, some roof damage.
Some of the businesses are still closed because their roof allowed water to get in. And so the water damage inside is what really devastated downtown, the business district, more.
But then you go north just a little bit out of the historic district proper and places like Suzy Q. I mean, totally demolished.
And then you go down walnut, of course, and that was even more impacted, and that's going to take quite a lot longer to rebuild.
But really, it's only been a month since the tornado. And in that time, it has been amazing to see the change of how we have cleaned up so quickly from such a devastating, damaging storm. And I imagine that you know it only as the summer continues, it'll start looking more like our hometown again.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Well, for people who want to submit memorabilia, photos, whatnot, you're not hard to find, but how do you want that submitted?
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah, we are located at 313 South Second street at the corner of Cherry and second, downtown Rogers in the historic area. And people can submit their stories and photographs to us either at museumodgersar dot Gov or you can go to that Facebook post that we put out. It's pinned at the top of our page, and you can submit them in the comments there, or you're welcome to mail them to the museum at Rogers Historical Museum attention may 2024 storm archives at 322 South Second Street, Rogers, Arkansas 727556.
So there's many ways that you can share them with us, or you can even come in person and drop them off at our front desk.
You mentioned memorabilia, too. And yes, we are accepting objects that survive the storm, things that help us tell the story in a more physical way.
The city of Rogers donated one of the city flags that was hanged. It was hanging up in the Rogers cemetery, and it's just stripped and frayed.
But it helps us to tell the story of just how much wind we received in this storm and what that kind of storm does to things. And it just, yeah. So we're taking anything to do with the storm to help us tell the story down in the future.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Serena, for joining us today. Really appreciate it.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Thank you, Dave, for having me.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: If you're enjoying this podcast, consider a newspaper subscription to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette or the River Valley Democrat Gazette. We have a special offer for our podcast listeners, so visit nwA online.com nwapodcast to get started. You can also click the subscribe button on our websites, nWA online.com and rivervalleydemocratgazette.com, or call us at 479-684-5509 and be sure to say that you're a podcast listener. Now back to the show.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: Before I go, I want to mention a few other stories we have coming your way over the next few days. In addition to the Rogers Historical Museum project, a developer has a sightset on turning a motel in Fayetteville on the south side of Martin Luther King junior Boulevard into affordable housing units. Fayetteville reporter Stacy Ryburn reports state agencies in Oklahoma and Arkansas are finishing up a two state water management plan for the Illinois river, with two public hearings occurring earlier this week. Doug Thompson was there for both hearings, and he'll boil down for us what was said the Excel center at Goodwill Industries is holding its first graduation for students from the organization's Springdale campus this weekend. That's an adult high school for people 19 and older. Education reporter Al Gaspin will be there to cover the happy event.
And in Washington county government, Lance Johnson is shifting from his job as chief of staff to commissioner of public buildings. Tom Sissom will explain that.
From the river Valley, Sadie Licicero will tell us about some grant money that three area counties received to work on their historic courthouses. And Monica Brick will have a story on what the city of Fort Smith's neighborhood services division is doing to reduce blight in the city.
Don't miss Sunday's what's Up? Section full of entertaining content. This weekend's cover story is on Peyton Bowling, a Benville High school senior who recently won Miss Arkansas teenage, and assistant features editor April Wallace will have a profile on Brandon Marcello, a Northwest Arkansas resident and prominent reporter nationally on college football.
All of this and more will be available to our subscribers on our tablet and smartphone apps and at our websites nWA online.com and rivervalleydemocraticgazette.com.
knowThe News is a weekly podcast brought to you by the newsrooms of the Northwest Arkansas Democratic Gazette and River Valley Democratic Gazette. Again, I'm Dave Perozyk, your podcast host this week. Thank you, as always, for listening. Don't forget to check us out next Friday for the next edition of the Know the news podcast. Until then, take care.
