By Louie Graves
News-Leader staff
Howard County’s Emergency Services Coordinator Roddy Smith, on the job for less than three years, says that the great ice storm of Jan. 2026 was his first real emergency.
His duties actually began before the storm, in meetings with County Judge Brent Pinkerton, along with the county’s mayors — Larry Dunaway, Nashville; Brenda Porter, Tollette; Ronnie Cogburn, Dierks; and pro tem Mayor Vera Marks, Mineral Springs — because of the early warning of an intense winter storm. Judge Pinkerton made a verbal declaration of impending disaster which is supposed to ease the county’s eligibility for FEMA assistance.
OES Coordinator Smith was “boots on the ground” when the storm hit.
He says he visited and photographed 77 damage sites in the county and will present a report when FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) officials visit probably sometime in the next two weeks.
“The state will notify me when they are coming,” Smith said.
He has recorded: 13 collapsed chicken houses, some containing birds; 45 other farm buildings including barns and shop buildings; 33 awnings and carports; two greenhouses; plus the damaged at the combined fire station and community center at Umpire.
Some parts of the county experienced short electrical outages, and some areas in the south county on the SAWS water system experienced interruption of service.
“We have met the threshhold of damage to qualify for FEMA assistance,” he said.
Many area agencies and governments were involved in public safety during and after the ice storm which began in the dark hours of Friday, Jan 23.
According to the National Weather Service, a total of one-inch of precipitation fell in the form of sleet and ice over two days. Coupled with frigid temperatures the ice hardened and encased streets. The year’s low temperature of 12 degrees was recorded on the mornings of the 26th and 27th. There was little or no electrical power outage.
The storm in Howard County
County Judge Brent Pinkerton said that the ice sheath was as hard as concrete, and that graders and other equipment had trouble scraping it off the county’s 442 miles of roads.
He said that road crews put in long hours every day for about a week using lots of different equipment. Possibly the worst road, he said, was Mission Drive west of Nashville which has lots of banked curves.
Nashville Mayor Larry Dunaway said that by Thursday city crews were able to do some street clearing in neighborhoods after first clearing Main Street and other travel arteries.
The city also obtained an electric generator to run pumps if needed to bring water from the Little Missouri River to the treatment plant. There were no issues with water, he said.
Although city crews put in long hours “The city got through this with flying colors.”
Joey Davis, chief deputy of the Sheriff’s Department, said that officers worked minor accidents and escorted emergency vehicles. The department also helped feed trucks from the poultry companies as they traveled to rural farms to make deliveries when feed supplies got low. Lots of loggers got out with their skidders to help the feed trucks.
“Lots of people were stranded,” he said, “from one end of the county to the other.”
Officers were also on hand to help in extricating Hays Boyd of Dierks who was in a collapsed horse barn. He was flown by helicopter ambulance to medical treatment.
Arkansas National Guardsmen were in the area to safely escort Pafford ambulances to scenes where there were medical needs.
“It was awesome to see people helping each other,” Davis said.
Nashville Fire Marshal Justin Thornton said that firemen faced no fires but were kept busy with medical calls, mostly with people hurt in falls.
