West Memphis mayor addresses concerns over flooding

McClendon insists all pumps are working at community forum

By DON WILBURN

donaldfwilburn@gmail.com

West Memphis Mayor Marco McClendon held a citywide town hall meeting last Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the Eugene Woods Civic Center in order to address his constituents’ worries about the recent ooding in several areas of West Memphis.

Around 50 citizens attended the meeting and asked questions of the recently re-elected mayor now in the _rst month of his second term. He began the meeting by quelling concerns and explaining that all four pump stations are up and running and were at the time of the ooding. He then went on to say that even with the pumps working at full capacity,

See FLOODING, page A2

Pearce Street next to the Academies of West Memphis experienced heavy flooding last month.

Photo by Don Wilburn FLOODING

From page A1

no one expected to receive the amount of rain that fell. He explained that while the pumps work _ne normally an emergency excessive situation would involve about 3.5 inches of rain and that the night prior to the ooding over 5.6 inches fell in less than a 24 hour period.

He then addressed questions about the recent investment of $32 million into the city’s wastewater management infrastructure and informed citizens that the scope of the project involves state planning and engineers and must be approved by the state of Arkansas itself. There are four stages of planning which must be approved and that it is currently in the fourth and _nal phase, but that it was also always expected to take 12 to 18 months to be approved. Work is expected to begin still this year and will involve all aspects of the city’s waste water management including another pump, manhole covers, storm drains, generators and generator back ups and “you will see work being done from the east end of Broadway to the Country Club.”

The mayor also reminded citizens that with the recent drought in October the city took full advantage putting crews to work cleaning out the city’s many bayous. A source within city hall later went on to say, “You wouldn’t believe how much stuff they pulled out of there. Literal tons of brush, trash, tires, even car parts. The ooding could have been much much worse if the mayor had not done that.”

While citizens were still visibly upset the mayor went on to appeal to constituents on a more personal level saying, “How could anyone think I am not as concerned as you? There was water from my front porch to the street. My house was in danger too”.

The mayor went on announce the various redundancies that have since been put into place including monthly inspections of the pumps stations and instituting better interdepartmental communication for those tasked with resolving the issue should it arise again. McClendon _nished by thanking the various _rst responders in the city and those who donated time, their various services and even food to those immediately affected by the ooding.