CONWAY, Ark. — Sandbag by sandbag, a house becomes an island.
“The sandbags are pretty much doing their job,” said Bradley Hargett as he works to save his father’s home from the floods. “There’s only one way in and one way out and that’s a boat.”
10,000 sandbags later, the Hargett home may have survived the devastating floods that have overtaken their neighborhood.
For days, dozens of volunteers worked to pile up sandbags, creating a fortress against the rising waters.
“I have complete confidence that we’re going to make it,” said Hargett. “We have been keeping an eye on the water level as it rises and it has stopped rising as much as it was.”
Pumps work nonstop to take the water that leaks through the sandbags out of the home. The family woke up at 2 a.m. Monday to fix a leak, which they say they have to do almost constantly.
“This community has given maximum effort to try and save this house,” said Hargett. “It means the world to my father, to me.”
As water crests in the Hargett’s neighborhood, homes along lake Conway prepare for the water to rise.
“Loads and loads of sand,” said Shawn Hammontree, a volunteer working to build a wall of sand around his friend’s home. “Since the water is rising, we’re trying to get the furniture out and we’re going to pack some more sandbags to the side.”
An assembly line of volunteers unpack a truck and build up the wall.
With rain in the forecast, the water levels could rise far more and take over more homes.