Springdale, just north of Fayetteville, has about 85,000 people and is home to the our largest Marshallese community.  On Wednesday, March 30, 2022, an EF-3 tornado touched down at 4:04 a.m. near the NWA Mall and continued for 5.2 miles between the Northwest Arkansas Mall and The Jones Center.  It later spawned an EF-1 tornado that hit in rural areas near Clarksville in Johnson County 3.5 hours later.

With peak winds of 143 mph, the tornado uprooted trees, toppled a few buildings, tore off roofs, smashed out windows, and turned over vehicles.  The tornado ripped an auto shop off its foundation near Main St in Johnson and tossed it into the street.  In Springdale, the tornado knocked down a cell phone tower, damaged some of the hangars at the Springdale Municipal Airport, and destroyed the gymnasium of George’s Elementary School.  Nilfisk Advance Inc, a factory that makes equipment to clean industrial floor, sustained damage to more than three-quarters of their buildings resulting in a gas leak.  Every home on Fairway Circle off Highway 71 was damaged as well as homes along Powell St to Turner St, Pagosa St, and Don Tyson Parkway.  The apartments on Black Oak also sustained considerable storm damage as the tornado bounced around houses in the parking lot.  Peak power outages affected 9000 people, for most of who power was restored by 6 a.m.  However, yesterday, almost 600 people were still without power until it was restored for everyone 8pm Friday night.

While Fayetteville is hilly, Springdale is fairly flat.  The tornado formed quickly and moved fast.  It was very small in comparison to the classic big supercell storm, so there was little time for people to react to the tornado warning if they received an alert at all.  The weather service put out a tornado alert for Springdale at 4:11 am.  The Weather Service sends high-level alerts through the National Wireless Emergency Alert System.  Because of the nature of tornadoes, alerts come minutes before the tornado passes.  It is just enough time to pull off the road and get into a ditch or to take shelter in an interior bathroom or closet with family and pets.  Many people were asleep or did not receive an alert on their cellphone, maybe even because the tornado took out a nearby cellphone tower.  I myself did not know what had happened until a high school student reached out asking how to say “homeless shelter” and “road closure” in Marshallese.  Those of us at Chikin Melele not in Springdale waited anxiously all day to hear friends report back at the end of the day.

Thank you to the amazing mobilizing effort within the community to respond to the disaster.  Door to door search on Wednesday determined that no one was missing.  All reported injuries have since been cleared by the hospital, including one critical injury from a falling tree.  60 homes were damaged by the tornado, including mobile homes at Woodbridge Estates Mobile Home Park, but the number of people displaced by the tornado is still unclear.  You might read in the news about the recovery response of the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Springdale Public School District.  They helped coordinate temporary shelter, emergency meals and clean up kits, as well as the safety assessment of school buildings.  For long-term help, contact 1-800-RED-CROSS to start your casework or 479-409-5031 for counseling.  According to ACOM, over 800 meals and 350 hygiene housing kits were delivered and with financial donations 20 individuals had temporary housing in hotels.

The many community and non-profit organizations, including The Jones Center, stepped into action by setting up donation sites to supply impacted residents with non-perishable food products, household goods, toiletries, and other essential items. They continue to gather and facilitate donations, and to serve as a supply-pickup site for families in need. MEI has received as many clothing donations as they can handle, and along with ACOM and AenEmman are requesting financial donations.  The People’s Pantry of NWA is also requesting food and financial donations, particularly for baby formula and diapers.  On Wednesday and Thursday, The Jones Center employees and administrators accompanied community groups and volunteers into affected neighborhoods to deliver food and supplies to residents. At the Consulate Office as well as The Jones Center, staff assembled food packages and served hot meals to residents who came in seeking respite after the storm.

You won’t read anywhere else about the amazing people on site that day  – translating, coordinating needs, and bringing food directly to the people affected.  Richard Laraya from MEI was on site all day Wednesday starting at 7:30 am reporting on social media, communicating with media, and interpreting.  MEI was collecting and sorting clothing donations.  ACOM and AenEmman were on site making immediate repairs – covering broken windows – and spent all day trying to coordinate temporary shelter for families.  Paul Swington organized meals from Kings Chapel Church which was most accessible that day for people displaced by the severe weather damage.  They were out all day and long into the night, not able to return phone calls until 11pm.  The Marshallese Consulate was open on Thursday where Albious Latior was assembling and distributing meals.  And, ACOM worked with The Jones Center to deliver meals to clean-up crews on Thursday.  Many of these people, representing ACOM, King’s Chapel, Ozark Atoll, KBE Annex, and MEI, did all this while preparing to travel for a Marshallese Leadership Summit taking place in Oregon today.

We are really fortunate that people were not out on the roads, at work, or in school when the tornado hit.  Walt Kelly, familiar with these neighborhoods and close to many of the people impacted, has been in and out of neighborhoods with the NWA People’s Pantry daily delivering food, water and diapers throughout the covid-19 pandemic.  As he described the damage to these neighborhoods, he got choked up as he described how the tornado hit down in the parking lot of the Black Oak apartments and bounced all around his friend Michael Mapa’s house.  Through direct efforts to address food insecurity during the pandemic, Walt has become close with Michael and Thomas Tulensa and others in the Marshallese and Latinx communities.  He said: “It’s been emotional.  It’s been intense.  You can rebuild things but not a life taken.”  An advocate for mutual aid and direct action, the People’s Pantry of NWA has been building intercultural alliances with the Marshallese and Latinx communities putting direct aid into the hands of those without transportation to get to the pantry or who are being terrorized by their landlords.  Walt was on his way to the Woodbridge Estates Mobile Home Park to support Samuel Lopez, who has helped with food deliveries in the past. 

In a social media post on Facebook about the events that morning, Samuel wrote: “i woke up, to open the shelter for people like me, with the wind and the rain at 4 am, broke the lock, injured my leg and pressed on to help those around me. I called 911 as I heard trees falling, unaware of all the damage i went to each home one by one making sure everyone was accounted for. My phone broke as it got wet in the rain with no way to contact my family. to my surprise my neighbors my friends came to find me. i could not keep still while i watched my neighborhood in ruins. we mobilized 15 deep. cooked food and got a convoy to go help remove some of the damage. we worked till dark, till we couldnt see no more, not a single hand from the city.” Samuel told Chanel 5 News reporters: “This isn’t a time to just come over here and videotape us. This isn’t a time for disaster this or that. We’re not asking for handouts, we’re asking for help.” The 7 reported injuries, 1 critical from a fallen tree, came from this mobile home park.  Due to how mobile homes are constructed, and often where they are located, they are particularly vulnerable to tornadoes.  Half of this mobile home in the picture above was completely swept up by the tornado.

Many buildings, business and homes sustained damage along the 5.2 mile as the tornado bounced around.  Some areas are likely to recover more easily than others.  The school district was able to repair the school roof within a day and resume normal school operations the next day.  Unlike the factory and businesses, mobile homes and apartments are more likely to be underinsured.  When food and bills demand immediate payment, insurance becomes a luxury many people cut: “there’s no coming back” for many of the people who sustained damage to homes, property and vehicles.  It has also continued to rain and now snow since the tornado tore through.  The risk of mold is very high – the emergency clean up kits distributed by the Salvation Army can help remediate mold until disaster renovation can be completed.  Recovery will continue beyond the immediate challenges of food, shelter and clean up.

I take courage in the people around me and have faith. Kommoolol Anij kōn mour im baamle.  I remember the bwebwenato about the typhoon that destroyed all the homes on the northside of Ebeye or the typhoon that hit Jaluit before Majuro was the capitol.  This is not the first storm that the Marshallese community has survived.  The storms might be more frequent and the king tides might keep washing over us, but the people are strong and the community is resilient.

Many, many more organizations and people helped: AenEmman Men Group & Dr. Sheldon Riklon; Tyson Food & Jordan Gershon; JB Hunt; TASC; Rikaki Paul Lokebol Swington, Springdale King Chapel, Full Gospel; Kōrā im an Kol; Jolet Youth Group and Junior Korok; Tolemour Youth Group; NewLife Church Fayetteville; Doodle Daycare and Preschool; Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ; Crystal Bridges; Zumba Mama; and Moston Swington family, Franee Smith, Kelly Krout, Mona Langbata, Ennia Hernandez, Finnley Williams, Xochitl Solorzano, and Carmen Vargas.