Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge West Memphis council to set up emergency aid and improve flood response
Summary
Several residents described recent flood damage, delayed or inconsistent city response, and gaps in communications and assistance. Commenters urged an emergency fund, better pump and ditch maintenance, and help accessing grants and hotel or cleanup support.
Multiple West Memphis residents used the citizen request portion of the meeting to press the council for a stronger, more consistent response to recent flooding in several neighborhoods.
Angela Thomas described being trapped in her home with her 17-year-old daughter during severe local flooding and said many neighbors, especially seniors, still lacked assistance two weeks after the storm. "We were drowning in water," Thomas said, and told the council she had been buying food and supplies and helping neighbors who could not afford cleanup. She urged the council to create an emergency fund and to accept outside help to write grant applications for recovery resources.
Joyce Gray Tillis said her property and other houses on OK Street and South 12th Street have flooded repeatedly and urged the city to keep drainage ditches and pumps cleared. She said several residents lack flood insurance and said the city needs retention ponds and better drainage maintenance. In response, council members and staff noted existing retention-pond plans and pump maintenance were priorities tied to prior tax and infrastructure planning.
A staff report earlier in the meeting noted the fire department and municipal teams responded to widespread calls during the storm; the record also included an EMS-year-to-date statistic presented in the department report. Residents warned that some city staff did not respond promptly to calls for help and requested clearer communications and equitable access to hotel or cleanup assistance for the most vulnerable households.
What the council said: during the meeting councilors repeatedly tied future drainage work and pump maintenance to ongoing capital and funding projects and said they were pursuing long-term solutions, while residents requested an immediate emergency fund and clearer, more consistent crisis outreach.
Next steps: councilors did not announce a new emergency fund or a specific timetable for storm relief during the meeting; several residents said they would follow up with staff and council offices for assistance and to share grants information they had prepared.
