Arkansas has been hit with several rounds of destructive and deadly storms this spring, with almost no corner of the state left unscathed. Tornadoes and widespread flooding have left cities and towns reeling, with long roads to recovery ahead. In March City & Town visited one of the many communities that took a direct hit. On the night of Friday, March 14, an EF-3 tornado with 165-mile-per-hour winds cut a northeasterly path from north Arkansas into southeastern Missouri. According to KARK’s Arkansas Storm Team, it was the third longest tracked tornado on record since 1950. It spent 94 miles on the ground in Arkansas before dissipating in Missouri. The storm killed three people in rural Independence County.

While no residents were killed in the Sharp County city of Cave City, the tornado bisected the community on its way northeast, destroying homes and businesses in its path.

When the sirens blared just before the tornado struck at 10:38 p.m., Cave City Mayor Jonas Anderson, his wife and children quickly helped their elderly neighbor from his house and into his storm shelter. Their homes only received minor damage, but by 11:15 p.m. the mayor was able to get a first look amid the darkness of the homes and business that weren’t. It was like a disaster scene from a movie, he said. “There were so many power lines, pieces of transformers and power poles. And natural gas was obviously blowing out of the ground. The smell was so overpowering.” The city’s water lines along the path of destruction were also affected. “Our water guys had to get up here quick because people’s houses had been ripped away, so the water was just shooting out of the ground.”

Homes and businesses bore the brunt of the storm. Though several residents sustained injuries, no one was killed in the city, Anderson said. “It did not hit our nursing home. It did not hit our school. There’s a trailer park right over here—if it had taken a direct hit, there’s no telling what would have happened. I’m reckoning with it now. Like, as bad as it was, we could have lost the whole place.”

One of the two Cave City Fire Department buildings was severely damaged. A local business’ portable building was thrown through the back of the department’s shop, and it may be a total loss, Anderson said. “Luckily that was not the building that most of our fire trucks were in, so we didn’t lose a single Fire Department truck, and you know how expensive those are. We did lose two police vehicles, and the officers were inside the vehicles when they were hit.” One officer was injured but is recovering, he said.

The city was without power for about three days. Darrell Kirby, former mayor of Bay who now works for the Rural Water Association, delivered a generator that got the water treatment plant running within hours of the storm, Anderson said. “We would’ve probably gotten in a dicey situation there without the treatment plant running.” Three wells provide the city’s water, and only one had an old diesel generator. Over the past few years, the city has prioritized installing new generators at each well. “They’ll run independently for days. When this hit, not one of our wells missed a beat.”

As Cave City began to deal with the aftermath, it immediately became clear they were not alone. Fourteen different law enforcement and public safety agencies were soon on the scene. Mountain Home Mayor Hillrey Adams brought crews down to help cleanup efforts. Numerous other crews from neighboring cities and towns did the same, including Batesville. “Rick Elumbaugh dispatched pretty much I’d say the entire city of Batesville to Cave City until further notice,” Anderson said. “I think one day I actually had to tell their crews go back to Batesville, take care of your city, make sure you’re not getting behind and then obviously you’re welcome to come back.” Mayors from further away, including Doug Kinslow from Greenwood and Jennifer Hobbs from Wynne, who experienced a devastating 2023 tornado in her city, showed up to offer help and moral support as well, Anderson said. “It’s just been like that the whole time—mayors and people from all over the state have been calling and coming by, bringing equipment in, just on their own.”

While the city received generous outside help in the storm’s aftermath, Anderson stressed the critical and selfless response of Cave City’s employees and the volunteers from within the community. “I’ve always known that we have good people here that basically just show up and do the work—they know what needs to be done and they just do it. But this has shown that we’ve got that in spades.”

Anderson also praised the quick response from Governor Sanders and her administration. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the state. Within like two hours or less they had 40 state troopers on the ground here. The National Guard followed pretty quickly after that.” The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management has also been “unbelievable,” he said. Mayor Anderson also had personal, direct access to the governor. “One night at 11 p.m. I was at my house trying to scarf down a bite, and I get a text on my phone and it’s the governor. She’s up at 11 p.m. texting me about an update on AT&T and asking me how things are going. That’s pretty accessible, if you ask me, for a governor.”