Pleasant Cove

The tornado that tore across Central Arkansas on March 31 hit the Little Rock neighborhood of Walnut Valley the hardest. It was here that it was at its largest and most violent. Many of the homes in the neighborhood received severe damage, and hundreds of trees were knocked down. 

Elliott's Pre-k school is in the neighborhood, so I drive through here every day. It's still breathtaking to see the damage in person. In the months since the storm, most of the damaged homes have been torn down and the debris has been removed. But it's chilling to see the empty lots, devoid of any buildings or trees. It resembles those "urban prairies," the vast barren tracts that disguise what a vibrant neighborhood this once was. There are still a few damaged houses that haven't been torn down, sitting broken and shattered, like a time capsule back to that awful day in March.



I spoke with someone in our neighborhood today whose house received significant damage from the tornado. He shared with us the sad and frustrating reality that he and other neighbors have been dealing with since the storm. Many home owners have been in an extended battle with their insurance companies, who aren't paying out enough to cover the full cost to repair or rebuild homes. The cost of construction has gone up since the pandemic, and for some the cost to rebuild would be more than double what they paid for their homes. And way more than what the insurance companies valued the property. For many people, it's just too expensive to rebuild.

Who knows how long it will be before the areas impacted from the storm will recover. Sadly, it doesn't look like it will be any time soon.