Neighbors helping neighbors after Thursday storm in Pulaski County

PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. – Thursday’s storm had damaging winds and heavy rain, leaving thousands without power across the state.

One thing that was similar between recovery efforts after March 31 tornadoes and this week’s severe weather was neighbors helping neighbors.

North Little Rock officials said that during the height of the storm, it caused 150 power outages while Entergy said they had 12,317 customers without power.

Although those numbers have significantly gone down, Charles Perry who lives in Pulaski County said he was surprised when his and some of his neighbors power went out due to the storm.

Perry said when he saw a tree blow down on the yard of his neighbor who lives across from him, he felt the need to help. However, he says the major difficulty was being locked out of his home because of his loss of power.

“We have no power so I couldn't get into my home because my keys to my home were inside because we use a garage door opener that was in the truck,” Perry said.

With the electricity out, Perry said they were stuck outside, but it wasn't only himself he was thinking about, it was also his neighbors.

“I thought I would come over and help them out,” Perry said.

Knowing what he needed to help them was just beyond the garage door, Perry said he did the one thing he could think of.

“I said let me give it one last try with the electric motor in my truck and once I done that, it opened up so I got my chainsaw and came on over and started helping my neighbors,” Perry explained.

The act of kindness, Perry feels, is what makes a community special and the neighbors he helped said they were grateful.

North Little Rock officials said on Friday the power outages had significantly been restored and Entergy maps show their numbers have been brought down also.

from KARK https://ift.tt/el7a2ox