Crews in North Little Rock, Ark., cleared enough debris in Burns Park to open the city's youth baseball fields in late April, but most of the park — one of the largest municipal outdoor recreation areas in the nation — remains closed to the public in the aftermath of the March 31 tornado that swept through parts of central Arkansas.
Rated an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with peak winds of 165 mph, the twister "uprooted or snapped hundreds, if not thousands, of trees at Burns Park, both north and south of Interstate 40," the National Weather Service (NWS) said in a report, before adding, "The tornado crossed I-40 just west of exit 150, passing over ball fields and recreation areas [Burns Park] west of Military Drive. A new fire station still under construction was also damaged along Military Drive."
On Facebook, people near and far commiserated over the destruction of the many trees that stood in the 1,700-acre park.
"I grew up at that park in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s," wrote Timothy Wilson. "It's so dear to my heart. I'll be coming home from Los Angeles to volunteer and help clean up."
Susan Devries also posted: "We were there just yesterday [April 10] at the NLR Animal Shelter picking up a newly adopted beautiful dog. The devastated trees [are] just heartbreaking."
In the hours after the storm passed, professional cleanup crews using skid steers, excavators and haul trucks began their efforts in Burns Park, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
The result is that only one month later, the youth baseball fields were accessible by entering Joe K. Poch Drive, the only way right now for people to come in or out of that area of the park.
But Funland Drive, and all the softball, soccer and high school baseball fields, along with a section of the Arkansas River Trail, will remain closed until further notice by North Little Rock Parks and Recreation.
The Democrat Gazette also noted May 1 that the Burns Park hospitality center is open to the public for debris drop off, which will be temporarily moved to the soccer and softball fields.
Five security checkpoints are set up around the park through Elite Protection Group to stop people from entering blocked roads. Maps are posted around biking and running trails to let anyone who does enter the park know what is off-limits.
Luckily, only four out of 27 tennis courts at the park were damaged by the tornado, explained NLR Parks and Recreation Director Steve Shields. The Arkansas Tennis Association has opened the unaffected courts, including the indoor tournament building, which now has power, he added.
On April 26, Shields also reopened the dog park next to the tennis center.
Because a "mammoth amount" of construction debris has taken over the softball complex's parking lot, he noted, an upcoming tournament in June will likely not happen.
One of the largest features of the park that was not affected as heavily by the storm was the Burns Park golf course. Park officials said the pro shop is open and the course's 18 holes were ready for golfers in late April.
CrowderGulf Disaster Recovery & Debris Management, along with Hauling Away Disaster Debris Removal, both based in the Mobile, Ala. area, have each been contracted to work daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to collect and grind the tons of broken trees at Burns Park, Shields said.
First, they collect fallen trees to be chopped up and put through a grinder. Then, the mulch is piled high for 18-wheelers to transport to landfills.
Unfortunately, the weight of the heavily laden trucks has demolished large sections of the park's roads, making it unsafe for other drivers. Repairing those stretches of road will happen after the cleanup is complete.
Terrain with fewer hills in the park allows for faster clearing, the parks department told the Little Rock newspaper, but the cleanup teams have yet to tackle the larger challenges.
Jason Rhodes, North Little Rock's parks superintendent, said there is no way to know just when the park will be fully cleared, due to the "magnitude of trees." Additionally, recent rain and storms have delayed progress on the work and caused excavators to be stuck in the mud.
"There's a lot of places we won't be able to get to until it dries back out," he told the Democrat Gazette.
Another area of concern for Shields and Rhodes is the park's kayak launch along the river, which is currently full of fallen trees and needs to be cleared as soon as possible. If it rains again soon and the Arkansas River rises, it could push the dock away from where it is attached to the shore.
And if that were not enough, a 6-in. water main burst from a tree when it was uprooted during the tornado near the RV Park, causing more flooding and delays.
"[Mayor Terry Hartwick's] first concern, obviously, is the [city's] streets and he made that known from day one, [and this park] is obviously secondary," Shields said. "But we're trying to open up as much as we can, [and] as soon as we can from a safety standpoint.
"It's like Mayor [Hartwick] has said, these kids have to have something to look forward to. That's why we were able to [get] youth baseball and tennis [going again]."
