PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Dozens of homes in Pine Bluff remain underwater despite the Arkansas River cresting over three days ago.
Devastation is how Barton Moore describes the Riverside Drive neighborhood in Pine Bluff. Moore has survived four floods: 1990, 2015, 2016 and 2019.
“I’m to a point in my life that I’m getting too old to fight this. I love this river, I was born and raised in Pine Bluff and love living here but I’m not going to fight it anymore,” Moore said.
His own home taking in over seven feet of water has left him too upset to ever step foot in it again.
"Nope, not going to. I left too many personal stuff that I don't want to see like this,” Moore said.
Moore said all but two homes on the block severely flooded. And with most homes still almost completely underwater, they will likely need to be torn down.
"Once it gets so close to your ceiling and up to the roof on a lot of these houses, water wicks into the ceiling into the insulation,” he said. “I've seen water in houses I would have never thought would have flooded and they got two to three feet of water in them."
Moore spent Sunday passing out cleaning buckets to neighbors. Some are finally able to get in and start tearing out the damage. Pastor Matt Mosler with New Life Church said the buckets will help people begin the cleanup process. The supplies were donated from people and ministries all over the country.
"We're deploying them all the way from Pine Bluff all the way to our church in Fort Smith. We have eight churches along the river, so we're putting all these buckets to use,” he said.
While it could take another four days for the water to go down on Riverside Drive, Moore said it will likely take years to recover.
"You have denial, anger and then acceptance and I'm in the acceptance stage right now,” Moore said.
If you are interested in volunteering and helping people clean out their homes anywhere along the river, you can contact New Life Church here. https://www.newlifechurch.tv/