By Camryn Stroupe, Staff Writer
On Saturday April 4, the city of Arkadelphia experienced historic flooding, impacting homes, businesses and city facilities. One of the locations most affected by the flooding was the Clark County Humane Society, a no-kill animal shelter in a high-flood risk area. Though the building had previously flooded in 2019, the yearlong search for a new location to house an increased number of animals and to lower the flood risk has so far been fruitless.
“We were aware of the predictions for heavy rains since we’ve had a flood before,” Interim Board Director and Shelter Manager Leslie Kent said. “We had video cameras in our parking lot and part of our dog yard, and by about 10:00, I decided to come down and take a look at things. I realized water was overflowing and getting close to our perimeter dog pens. I came inside, got on the phone, made some calls to our directors to put out the call for help that we were going to have to move the outside dogs inside the building, which was about 70 dogs or so. By the time I finished and went out back again, the dogs were already standing in the water. We started getting them out, and they either had to swim to the building or be carried. Several folks showed up, and we had to herd the dogs into our front building. By the time we got them in here, the flooding in the building started.”
The water rose to a point during the flooding that dogs swam through the building while volunteers scrambled to move them to the city armory for temporary shelter. A back outdoor area was completely overrun with water with 75 outdoor dogs needing immediate relocation. A volunteer team was on site from the time the emergency call for help was sent at 10:40 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. the next morning, consisting of citizens of Arkadelphia, regular shelter volunteers and Ouachita students coordinated by Carly Orr and Shelby Cheek.
Longtime volunteer and Arkadelphia resident Liz Kimmel Martin responded to the emergency call the night of the flooding. “By the time I got there 40 minutes after the call went out, I had to park uphill two blocks because you could just see the water that had already risen,” Martin said. “We figured out quickly that it wasn’t going to be good. In the backside shelter, there were dogs swimming to get to safety from the flash flooding. It happened that quickly. We secured the dogs from the outside pens inside. By the time we got them safe inside, the water started coming into the building. Then we had to start getting animals up to higher areas out of the water.”
The city of Arkadelphia provided a temporary refuge while the floodwaters overtook the building by allowing CCHS to move animals to the armory in Arkadelphia. “We had the city fire department around 12:30 a.m. with a few other vehicles going back and forth to move the dogs,” Martin said. “It was just a matter of getting them there. They were taken care of and safe, and that was amazing enough. I mean, there were times of a lot of dogs just running around everywhere and swimming in the water. There were no major issues getting them somewhere safe.”
OBU student Carly Orr spoke of the aftermath of the flooding and how students have been able to help. “I found out how bad the flooding was on Sunday night,” Orr said. “That is when I started trying to get volunteers. They have helped move dogs to and from temporary holding sites, walked dogs, cleaned the flood aftermath at the Humane Society, gotten donations and so much more. All of the dogs are back at the Humane Society now, so most of the emergency work is done. However, the Humane Society still needs lots of help walking dogs, cleaning, doing laundry and just loving the dogs and cats there because even just sitting with the animals helps them socialize and makes them more adoptable. If students want to help, they can still show up during the normal hours of operation and ask how they can help. If they know they want to walk dogs or clean or whatever, just tell them they want to do that.”
The Arkadelphia community came together to help in the emergency of the flooding. “Dozens of people showed up to emergency foster some of the animals that have more intense needs, such as kittens, older animals or animals with medical needs,” Orr said. “I also was happy with the amount of students who showed up at crazy hours. We had people up there as early as 7 a.m. and as late as 9 p.m., willing to do whatever they needed to in order to help. We had 60 responses to the volunteering survey I sent out, and we had more people show up who didn’t sign up.”
The work that went into saving the animals during the flooding was truly a picture of Ouachita’s value of living lives of meaningful work. “People did what needed to be done,” Martin said. “It was physically grueling work because these aren’t just 10-pound dogs. We had a lot of big dogs that needed to be picked up, and you never know how they are going to respond. We had the crew from OBU, board members, the city planner, firefighters and more. It was really an eclectic group.”
The Clark County Humane Society is now uncertain about what is to come now that the building is wrecked for the second time in the last six years by major flood damage, following a flood back in 2019. “It’s unfortunate that it happened, but luckily, we had the community and county rally together, and I hope it will continue to bring awareness of the needs of the facility,” Martin said. “It’s outdated and this is nothing new. Everyone knows that. It’s not in a good location for this reason, because it does flash flood.”
Kent spoke of what is next for the shelter after the flooding. “Our next step is to continue getting cats out of this building to other rescues, foster homes or adoptive homes and get equipment that is salvageable out of this building,” Kent said. “We will maintain the dogs here for a period until we can hopefully get them moved, transferred to other rescues and then go from there.”
A renovation of the current property would be more expensive in the long run than building in a new location because of flooding risk and current building issues due to age and flooding. “We will not be coming back to this property except on a temporary basis,” Kent said. “This building is seriously contaminated and will have mold and sanitation issues. The dust from the dried water is everywhere, and cleaning only stirs it more. The Board of Directors has decided we will not spend any of our valuable donors’ money trying to resurrect this building.”
The CCHS received a grant last year in their search for a new location. “An out-of-state foundation last year saw a video about the shelter being within a few months of having to shut down because of our expenses,” Kent said. “They made us a very generous offer of $50,000 in seed money when we found a new location, and that money would be used to design a new shelter. They offered another $200,000 that they will match with $200,000 in local giving. This all hinges on finding a new location, which we have not been able to do in about six months of looking. This is a situation in which the community is going to have to pull together and help us do this because a new shelter to house as many animals as we’ve got is a very expensive proposal.”
Ouachita students can help the Humane Society reach their financial need is by hosting fundraisers, even if they don’t have the means to financially contribute themselves. “I know most of them can’t donate much or have animals on campus,” Kent said. “But they could concentrate efforts on fundraisers. One of these is the fundraiser that Shelby with Gamma Phi helped us put together at Bakes By Bree here in town. We’re making a shift to where money is really the big deal because we have this grant to match funds with community donations to. Every little bit helps because what they raise is matched 100 percent.”
Martin reflected on the aftermath of the tragedy and hopes it will shed light on the needs that the shelter was already facing and the need for funding for a new location to be built in a safer area for the animals. “When you have a tragedy, you hope that awareness comes from it,” Martin said. “You hope that more people are able to volunteer and donate toward a better shelter and space.”
To contribute by donating supplies or money or even to volunteer, visit the Clark County Humane Society website at https://www.humanesocietyofclarkcounty.com/.
