I drove around town a bit after picking up my groceries on Friday. I didn't go all over town and I didn't go through the affluent neighborhoods that were hit. Most people don't realize that the neighborhood behind the mall, where there are public housing units (project housing), got completely wiped out as well. That NEVER made the news. I couldn't get back there anyway, it is all sanctioned off. I drove through the parts of town that didn't get a lot of coverage, but where there was still damage. Obviously, my route did take me right past the mall, so I did get shots of it and the stores across the street, Ulta and Kirklands being the main two:
And sorry about the quality of this, it was 6 pm on a Friday, so even with the quarantine, traffic was still a bit heavy:
And then the mall itself, Target didn't get hit so bad (I had just been in there the Friday before:
But the further you go, the worse it gets:
The crushed-in roof was where Barnes and Noble was:
And this twisted piece of white mess is what "used" to be Best Buy:
It does continue on to the backside but, like I said, it was closed back there because there were houses. "Were" being the keyword.
Across the street though from about Penney's is where my Vet's office is, it got some damage (no animals were injured), but it looks like they were already progressing well on the rebuild:
And here is just an empty field that used to be a type of UHaul rental place with all the debris from the mall embedded in the fence:
I kept going on down to the "poorer" side of town on my way down to airport road. There was so much news coverage about the middle of town, the mall, and all the rich houses that got hit, I wanted to see how Nettleton Ave (which, back in the day, used to be a main strip), looked and was shocked! I knew I'd see a lot of damage on the East side toward the airport, especially towards the factory that burned, but I didn't expect the West side to look like this:
And yes, this is the SAME train track that runs along the backside of my trailer park (there are two, but they run together)...this is the East side towards the factories and the airport:
The debris from one side in the ditch of the other:
These were factories:
I can't even tell you what this was:
I really wanted to get a clear picture of this (so sorry I didn't!), because the backside of this building that burned was the horrible toxic smell that I had to endure after the storm...the reason why I couldn't open any windows and it got up to 85 in my house. Ironically, they may clear air machines, air filters, and green products! It was the worst smell ever and it turned the sky this horrible greenish-yellow color.
The airport is the hardest area of all to photograph. The traffic is heavy, the road is curvy, and it's just hard, but I got a few shots. All the damaged planes at the airport:
Some of the hangars...all but the biggest building were destroyed:
The main terminal and more buildings (or what is left of them):
And the debris field they are piling up:
And that's about all I got! There is still a lot more damage in town that I might get one night, but I'm not comfortable with driving through the neighborhoods. I just think people need their privacy and I wouldn't like it if people were circling around my house during this time.
The city estimated there was about $400 million dollars in damage. I thought that was a bit steep at first and couldn't figure it out, but once I thought about it, it made sense. The mall itself cost over $100 million dollars to build, or so the mayor said at the press conference. For po-dunk Arkansas, that is just unheard of (and frankly, I still find it hard to believe)! Now that most of it has to be completely rebuilt, I can guarantee that will go up. The one neighborhood they kept featuring on the news was a million dollar neighborhood on its own. We don't have many of those in this town and since property values have gone up, more money. So maybe it's not such a stretch after all. There have also been two towns hit with tornados since ours, and the news hasn't mentioned a one of them. Just as much damage, only smaller, poorer towns. Considering there was little to no mention of the poor neighborhoods that were hit here, only the rich areas, it makes sense, it's just sad.
And sorry about the quality of this, it was 6 pm on a Friday, so even with the quarantine, traffic was still a bit heavy:
And then the mall itself, Target didn't get hit so bad (I had just been in there the Friday before:
But the further you go, the worse it gets:
The crushed-in roof was where Barnes and Noble was:
And this twisted piece of white mess is what "used" to be Best Buy:
It does continue on to the backside but, like I said, it was closed back there because there were houses. "Were" being the keyword.
Across the street though from about Penney's is where my Vet's office is, it got some damage (no animals were injured), but it looks like they were already progressing well on the rebuild:
And here is just an empty field that used to be a type of UHaul rental place with all the debris from the mall embedded in the fence:
I kept going on down to the "poorer" side of town on my way down to airport road. There was so much news coverage about the middle of town, the mall, and all the rich houses that got hit, I wanted to see how Nettleton Ave (which, back in the day, used to be a main strip), looked and was shocked! I knew I'd see a lot of damage on the East side toward the airport, especially towards the factory that burned, but I didn't expect the West side to look like this:
And yes, this is the SAME train track that runs along the backside of my trailer park (there are two, but they run together)...this is the East side towards the factories and the airport:
The debris from one side in the ditch of the other:
These were factories:
I can't even tell you what this was:
I really wanted to get a clear picture of this (so sorry I didn't!), because the backside of this building that burned was the horrible toxic smell that I had to endure after the storm...the reason why I couldn't open any windows and it got up to 85 in my house. Ironically, they may clear air machines, air filters, and green products! It was the worst smell ever and it turned the sky this horrible greenish-yellow color.
The airport is the hardest area of all to photograph. The traffic is heavy, the road is curvy, and it's just hard, but I got a few shots. All the damaged planes at the airport:
Some of the hangars...all but the biggest building were destroyed:
The main terminal and more buildings (or what is left of them):
And the debris field they are piling up:
And that's about all I got! There is still a lot more damage in town that I might get one night, but I'm not comfortable with driving through the neighborhoods. I just think people need their privacy and I wouldn't like it if people were circling around my house during this time.
The city estimated there was about $400 million dollars in damage. I thought that was a bit steep at first and couldn't figure it out, but once I thought about it, it made sense. The mall itself cost over $100 million dollars to build, or so the mayor said at the press conference. For po-dunk Arkansas, that is just unheard of (and frankly, I still find it hard to believe)! Now that most of it has to be completely rebuilt, I can guarantee that will go up. The one neighborhood they kept featuring on the news was a million dollar neighborhood on its own. We don't have many of those in this town and since property values have gone up, more money. So maybe it's not such a stretch after all. There have also been two towns hit with tornados since ours, and the news hasn't mentioned a one of them. Just as much damage, only smaller, poorer towns. Considering there was little to no mention of the poor neighborhoods that were hit here, only the rich areas, it makes sense, it's just sad.
Comments
Linda
Have they rehoused all the people, or is that something else that won't be reported?