Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Times and Little Rock Public Radio.

And welcome to Arkansas Week.

I'm Dawn Scott.

And we begin this show with efforts in the Northeast Arkansas town of Hardy to recover from flooding that left the town in ruins about three weeks ago.

The Spring River rose 48 inches, and while no one died, countless lives were affected with homes damaged or destroyed.

And statewide flooding took a daunting toll on crops, With a preliminary conservative damage estimate at just under $80 million.

Now the focus is on rebuilding.

And joining me is Hardy Mayor Ethan Barnes, along with the U. Of a Department of Agriculture economist Hunter Byrum.

Thank you both for being here with me.

And I'll begin with you, Mayor Barnes.

Take us back to the weekend of the flooding.

Tell us how it unfolded and when you knew your town was in trouble.

Yes, Thank you for having me.

It's an honor to be on the program today.

You know, usually when the Spring River starts to rise and come out of its banks, we don't have a warning.

We typically have 12, 24 hours to do even do anything in this community.

But thankfully, with the help of the National Weather Service, we were able to get alerts out to our citizens in a timely manner.

So we had four and five days to get out into our community and do a highly suggested evacuation protocol.

Throughout all the areas of the city of Hardy and out into some of the rural areas with the help of the Sharp County Sheriff's Department.

So we went out, put red notices on folks doors and advised them that they would be stuck in their homes, unable to travel, that first responders fire, EMT would be unable to get to them.

So in an unlikely event normally is that we don't have the chance to tell people to get out.

But thankfully we had the resources available to allow people to get the notification that they needed.

So just as soon as we could.

Evacuations began and on the night of Friday, when the rain started to fall of northwest and the river started to rise, our streets turned into river ways and we knew we were in trouble.

We began several water rescue operations in the evening into the AM hours on Saturday, and one of the most hardest moments of my life as an elected official and as a first responder for the Hardy volunteer Fire Department is doing some of our water rescues that we had to endure that evening.

So not everybody takes notice to those evacuation orders, unfortunately.

And there was just a few that were a little stubborn up here in this part of the Ozarks.

But we were able to rescue everyone that needed out that evening.

The sheriff was able to rescue several dogs that had been left on a person's real property, believe he got in chest deep of water to get those dogs out.

So kudos to Sheriff Shane Russell for not leaving anybody behind.

But our rivers rose fast.

We were able to evacuate as many as we could.

And thankfully, by the grace of God, we had no fatality in this part of the Ozarks.

That was my next question.

That advanced warning truly did save lives.

Was anyone hurt?

We did have some injuries here in the area.

We did have a sheriff's deputy that needed to go and receive some treatment at our local medical facility.

And we did have a first responder that needed to go receive some treatment after that water rescue operation.

We did not have, again, any fatalities, but we did have some treatment that needed for those first responders that were affected from the sheriff's department in our volunteer fire.

Well, the images are just stunning of of the rescue of what the water did to your town.

Give us the damage estimates right now, if you will.

I know residents lost homes.

A campground was destroyed.

So much more.

Sure.

So what's interesting about this and if you've ever floated the Spring River or fished it or kayaked, you're familiar with what this called the Maya Creek and the South Fork River.

When the Maya Creek in the South Fork River began to take on large amounts of water like they did, they tend to basically explode when it enters into the Spring River.

And in that area there was just a massive amount of water that came through.

The readings from USGS report 22.8 to, I believe, amount of rain above the flood stage.

As a local who's been here my entire life.

I don't know if I agree with their readings that water was very high.

That water was raising of foot every 15 to 30 minutes as that water began to crest into the wee hours of the morning.

I believe I was on 48 hours of no sleep.

And as we're out looking in the wee hours of the morning, the Weather Channel begins to show up.

CNN begins to show up and they want to see the damage assessments.

And of course, as we're getting into seeing the daylight at this point in time, state highways began to become under water to where people on U.S.

63 could not travel through town.

We made contact with, of course, the National Guard came into town and was able to help us with our events for traffic control as there is such amount of traffic of ten and 12,000 vehicles today that come through US 63 and Hardy.

And of course, the amount of traffic is not something that our local municipality could even begin to manage on our own.

So by the resource of the Arkansas Highway Patrol, the Arkansas State Police, the National Guard, we eventually took notice that U.S.

63 was closed down.

They had closed the highway down at that Lawrence County and Sharp County line.

There was a segment of US 63 that was completely underwater and the vehicles could not come through Hardy and get to Jonesboro or Memphis.

And, of course, that affects commerce.

There was even a train derailment at Mammoth Spring, and that BNSF railway that goes through there completely impacts the federal economy across the entire entire nation and the world, if you will.

So as we relied on all of our local police and our state police and the National Guard to help with our traffic control, we knew we knew we had some issues on our hands that we needed some help.

And, of course, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders was right there at the call to assist us when we called for assistance.

So we really thank the governor's office for all of her help to make this work to where we had zero fatalities in this in this an unprecedented event.

Well, knowing that you received that state help was my next question.

But I want to move to where you are in your recovery efforts right now.

I've read a report from someone you know in the cleanup efforts, people find it hard to believe a tornado didn't hit.

Does the damage look the same with with the destruction that you that you received?

That's a fair question.

A path of a tornado typically has, you know, with that is going to follow when a flood comes up, that is a lot wider than a tornado.

It almost looks as if a bomb went off in some areas.

It is complete devastation.

In the area of Riverbend Park, primary residences were lost.

It looks it looks scary.

It is very scary to go out there and see what could have happened if people would have been in their residences and we did not get notice to them to evacuate from that area.

And of course, we don't do any mandatory evacuations.

We're not going to violate anybody's constitutional rights.

They were just highly, highly suggested that folks needed to get to higher ground.

Well, your city hall, your police station also were displaced by flooding.

How is the city functioning right now?

So the city is able to function.

We have another building in the property that we own, known as the Johnson Center on Johnston Street.

So we immediately began operations of picking up city hall, our police department, and removing them to higher ground up on Johnson Street.

So the police department's back in full operation.

They are up and going today, and we're proud to have our police department running the fire department was not affected.

So no, no need for concern there.

Our water and wastewater treatment facility centers are doing fine.

The city hall administration team has been moving things and relocating things.

All of our operations are back up and going.

We are running off some temporary phone lines now, but the city is, of course, up and going.

What is your community need most right now?

Our community needs thoughts and prayers.

This is this is a long road of recovery.

There's people that are indefinitely and 100% affected for this for the rest of their lives.

People have lost their homes.

When I look into the eyes of the people that I know, the people that I see each and every day and they're loading up cleaning supplies, they're loading up nonperishable items that the Church of Christ disaster relief team brought in, as well as the American Red Cross.

We had a shelter here at the old Hardy gym that supplies that they needed just the basic essentials of a mop and a broom and some gloves and trash bags.

The smile on their face when they were able to receive those things because a lot of folks up here live paycheck to paycheck.

So in order of just to get those things and to see the impact that they had, those needed supplies have been distributed.

People have food right now, but thoughts and prayers are needed.

Of course, we have set up a link that people can donate to.

It's through our Comfort Keepers local ministry.

You can visit that on the city Facebook page.

Anybody that is led to giving any type of financial assistance.

We're making sure that hardy citizens get any type of assistance that they need, not in the terms of direct cash, but of us being over how we supplies are purchased or acquired, whether that be new clothing or an appliance such as a hot water heater, or whether that be that they have a flat tire because they drove through a pothole and the debris is completely blown their tire and they can't afford to put a tire on their vehicle right now.

So thoughts, prayers and any financial assistance that I think can be given to Comfort Keeper's ministry, especially for the hardy flood victims.

Well, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Hardy Mayor Ethan Barnes, thank you so much for being with us and taking time to update our community here in Arkansas.

Thank you, Don.

I appreciate you having us on the show today.

Well, additionally, as I mentioned, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture released a preliminary and very conservative estimate of crop related flood damage and 78.9 million.

With me now is Hunter Byrum.

He is an economist with the U. Of a AG Department.

That number is staggering.

I read 30% of the planted crops have been destroyed by flooding.

Yeah, I mean, we were looking at about 140,000 acres were planted.

And so about 31% of those.

So looking close to about 300,000 of those acres.

What do we do?

What we do, I think, at this point?

Well, they went to recognize that it is a very serious situation.

It's a severe situation.

But the good news is, I mean, we're looking at maybe 20 to 30% of corn had been planted and maybe 20% of rice, maybe 10% of soybeans.

So it wasn't like we had everything planted.

There was just a small amount that was planted.

And so I think there's a little bit of a saving grace there that it wasn't that we weren't as far along in planting and that we weren't seeing a lot of emerged crops that had been flooded.

So no doubt is going to be a significant event, but it could be much worse if we if this came about a month later, was one of the crops more affected than than others?

Yes.

So I think at this point, rice was probably the most affected and we're still thinking about it.

Rice is typically planted on a more clay soil, which is able to hold up more water essentially compared to like, you know, corn and soybeans.

And so I think about 111,000 acres of that other state that I mentioned was going to be for rice, it was a majority rice.

There were some crops or was I reading this?

There are some crops that haven't been planted yet, but the ground is now affected.

So that's going to push back planting.

And then with pushing back, planting is going to reduce yield potential because like as you wait longer and longer to plant the yield of that production potential falls.

And so right now we're we're kind of in that the ideal corn window and getting into that ideal rice window and starting to get into that ideal soybean window, but cotton peanuts, as far as I know, there had been nothing that was planted before that storm.

But yeah, I mean, just the big idea of the longer you have to push back the planting, the less yield you're going to be getting.

Well, let's talk about this number, this 78.9 million.

And I keep reading the word conservative that it's a conservative estimate.

So it's likely higher.

I think it's going to be higher.

I mean, we didn't even account for that loss in yield potential.

I think that as we push that planting day back, we're going to be losing good potential, which means they're going to be losing revenue that could be paying paying off a loans can be paying off any other bills.

Also any other damages to farm equipment, any of the damages to where grain is stored on those green beans.

So I think that there are other things that we just weren't able to get our hands on the data for, to be able to account for it.

But I do think that this is a pretty conservative.

And as we continue to look at these numbers and continue to work with our county agents, our county extension agents to get these numbers updated, I think that that number is only going to go up.

Which counties are we talking about, too?

Is this just a statewide situation or are there certain areas of the state hit much worse?

I would say the the the area that we studied the most is going to be east Arkansas.

That's where most of our crop production is going to be.

And so then within East Arkansas, most of the northeast, Arkansas, kind of where the mayor is there in Hardy.

So focusing mostly on the northeast part of the state, they end up incurring the most flooded acres of anybody else.

How does the state absorb a loss like this, in your opinion?

It's it's it's difficult to say.

It's difficult to say.

I think I just go back to that.

It's it's a good thing that we weren't further along in our planting, that we weren't further along in the growth stages of production.

I think it could have been much worse.

What are you hearing from farmers?

I know you were in contact with the county extension offices who are in direct contact with farmers.

How are they feeling?

What are they saying to you?

Well, there are some that have said, hey, the water has dropped off and I'm going to get out there and I'm going to plant and I'm going to replant.

But there's also many out there that are saying, I've got standing water in my field, six inches, 12 inches, still standing water.

And especially in those areas that are near, say, the Cash River, the Black River down in southeast Arkansas would be like the bond meter.

And so in those areas where those those tributaries that empty into the Arkansas, which are empty into the Mississippi, and until the Mississippi gets lower and until we start to see those fields drain off into those rivers, we're going to continue to see water standing in fields.

Tell us about the state assistance.

Has the state been assisting?

I have not seen anything directly yet, but I do know that the that there are folks that are aware and working for you and working for help.

Absolutely.

What other numbers of note do you think are important?

There was a huge report that was issued giving this estimate of just under $80 million.

But there were there was so much information in there.

What is the most important thing to you?

Yes.

So about half of that is going to be coming from corn, soybeans and rice.

So that 42 million of that is coming from corn, soybeans and rice.

And that's going to be the cost is to replant.

So just the cost to replant those.

Something else that I think is important to note is with crop insurance.

So with crop insurance, there's what's called an early planting date and a lot of farmers planted before the early planting date, which means that they would not be eligible for a replant payments.

So they're going to be out double the cost because they're not going to be able to cash in on that replant, paying for the crop insurance.

I want to get back to you in just a moment for a final thought, but I want to give a chance to Mayor Ethan Barnes, who has joined us remotely.

Any final thoughts?

I know you had mentioned you have a huge tourism component to your community up there and you still want people to come.

We do.

We just want to hit the point, of course, that this entire economy here depends on tourism.

It depends on the recreational facilities here, too, where people fish, canoe, kayak and float the Spring River.

And we just don't want people to forget about us.

We need and support more now than ever.

So if folks will put us in your summer plans, we still want to see you.

Please come support our small businesses who have lost a lot, but they are ready to serve you with a warm smile and offer that Southern hospitality.

So please come see us in Hardy or just 2 hours north of Little Rock.

Hour and a half to Jonesboro.

2 hours to Memphis.

We love to see you all.

Please don't forget little Ole Hardy.

We we certainly will not forget little old Hardy and Mayor Ethan Barnes.

We do appreciate you.

And economist Hunter Byrum will be checking in with both of you in the coming weeks and months just to see how this recovery process is going.

Thank you both.

Thank you.

And when we return, cybersecurity as a growing need for the state.

After a short break.

Welcome back to Arkansas.

A week, if you think about it, almost everything we do is on our phones or on our computers.

We use technology for virtually everything banking, work, school, any number of tasks.

And that also poses a dilemma.

One of safety and security.

Hackers are out in full force.

And as such, schools like the University of Central Arkansas are responding by offering new careers and training in cyber security.

It has become a growing industry to protect and safeguard our information.

And joining me to discuss this is Dr.

Stephen Addison, the dean of the College of Science and Engineering.

Thanks so much for being here.

Thank you.

Let's start with why this is so important.

Almost all of us has been touched in some way.

Someone's gotten into our email or our phones.

It's touched all of us.

Really?

Yeah, absolutely.

And it affects individuals.

It affects businesses, small businesses who experience cyber intrusion or often don't survive the following year.

So it's a big threat and everybody needs some basic education and just to have some knowledge because many of these threats can be protected against.

And really most of the the effects that people experience are due to making simple mistakes.

Very interesting.

So let's get into all of this.

I want to discuss so many of the things that you mentioned.

First, let's talk about your response because you're offering classes in degree programs.

Tell us a little more about that.

Sure.

We actually have two separate degree tracks, one in the college of Business, which is designed for people who need to know something about cybersecurity, but on managing systems.

And then we have a track in the College of Science and Engineering that offers a more technical education and has, in fact, three options in it.

One is a hardcore course in cyber physical security.

Then there's a track for people who want to go into into policy, and there is a management track, but a different sort of manager, a manager who emerges from an engineering strand.

So is it this knowledge that people need that so important?

Are there laws needed in your opinion?

Clearly, careers are being born out of this.

There are companies forming to stop hackers or protect businesses, as you say.

Yes, well, laws are really important.

And while we have many, we we we need more policies to handle newly emerging threats.

We also need to educate people in other countries because much of the cybercrime that we experience originates in other countries where actually what they're doing may not be illegal there.

And so part of it is we need to ensure that everybody develops similar policies to protect their citizens.

So say a student is at UK and they take these classes or follow one of these various tracks that you're describing.

Are there careers out there then, and jobs that will support this?

Absolutely.

And they come in in different varieties.

They're most companies or many companies are hiring cyber security specialists to help protect their systems and also to provide internal education about things to do and not to do.

But another strand is what are called pen testers.

So they are people who you might describe as white hat hackers who attempt to penetrate systems and point out vulnerabilities to you.

That's also a really growing job market because people need to know how vulnerable their systems are.

Well, it's mind boggling to some people, especially those out there who've been hacked.

What are they after?

They're after, you know, your personal information, your bank information, money.

Right.

They do many, many things.

Many of the the intrusions are due to people giving up passwords and that they might use that to explore the system, maybe your work password.

And they may be able to penetrate into different parts of the system and find out information.

But a lot of times what they're looking for is make a quick dollar or so if they if they take somebody's individual information.

Think about your work at work password.

It allows you to do things, but it also allows you to access your own records.

One of those things would be direct deposit information.

And one of the things that happens quite a lot to people is they discover they weren't paid.

And surprisingly, some of them don't notice straight away because what has happened is a hacker got their password logged on as them and changed their their direct deposit to a bank outside the country.

And usually it goes through multiple transfers.

So there is no recovery.

And either the company makes the employee good or the employee is is on their own.

Many companies I've found will for the first time help people out.

But they also say, well, you made the mistake.

Well, you mentioned at the very beginning there are simple mistakes.

Talking about mistakes.

What are they so that we can all know?

So the source of some of the mistakes, many of the things come in through emails, phishing emails, trying to get your information.

And usually there is some social engineering involved.

So they're trying to send you an email that you will respond to.

One of the things I'm expecting to see in the next few weeks is, is an upsurge of emails telling people that they've been exposed to measles and that because it's in the news and so people hear how infectious it is.

And so if they if they hear they've been exposed, they may be induced to log into a site because they typically tell you to see if to learn who the the vector was.

You need to log into our site and we'll tell you.

So a lot of people will do that.

And even if you have to set up two factor authentication, which now many of us have, what they do when you when you log into last night is that site is programed to immediately try to log into the site.

You are really trying to go and it asks you for your two factor authentication.

And then when you approve that, it lets them in and you get an error message.

And if people get an error message through one of those things, they ought to log in and check their personal details.

But lots of people don't.

They just they're used to seeing error messages, but you don't normally get error messages of that type when you are when you're trying to log on through your two factor authentication.

Well, I want to ask.

I'm so glad to know that the university is doing something about this.

But while we wrap things up here, I want to know is are a lot of universities doing this or is UK leading the charge?

What what are you offering that's unique?

So we are in some ways leading the charge.

The we're one of 22 RBS and cyber security program that's about accredited nationwide.

So we were one of the early adopters and our program has run long enough that we've we have that seal of approval.

But other universities are also doing the same thing.

But the job gap is large.

There are many, many jobs for cybersecurity specialists in the state which have been unfilled for years.

You can you can look at cyber sector and you will see many, many job openings.

And it's obviously a need, something that our society it's just part of our society now.

Right.

We definitely have to address it.

I'm glad UK is.

Thank you for the information.

Dr.

Stephen Addison, the dean of the College of Science and Engineering at UK.

We appreciate you being here.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much.

And that's it for this week's edition of Arkansas Week.

I'm Don Scott, and we'll see you next time.

Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The Arkansas Times and Little Rock Public Radio.