HOXIE, Arkansas (KAIT) – Storms moved through northeast Arkansas early in the morning on August 16th.

The storms caused power outages in some areas of Region 8, but Hoxie experienced a brief water outage.

Hoxie Mayor Dennis Coggins said the storm damaged the water pumps they were using in place of the water tower, adding this happened after they received a grant to replace the tower.

“We got a grant to renovate our water tower, so we bought two new engines, two self-start and two slow-start, and we’ve been working with those,” Coggins said.

When Hoxie ran out of water, they turned to Walnut Ridge for help, according to Coggins.

“Our water tower should be back up and running next week, but unfortunately something happened before then,” Coggins said. “We contacted Walnut Ridge, they helped us. We just turned on the water valves and that was it.”

The water is still drinkable and usable and there is no boil water order in place.

The Arkansas Department of Health issued a statement saying, “According to the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) engineering manager, Hoxie did indeed experience a power outage and a brief drop in water pressure until they opened their connection to Walnut Ridge to return water pressure to normal levels. This brief drop in water pressure did not meet the threshold to issue a boil water advisory per ADH guidelines.”

Due to power and water outages, some shops and the school had to remain closed for the day.

“As you can see, our city workers are off because there’s no power and no payments can be taken, so we’re letting them off,” Coggins said. “The school is letting the kids out. Everyone is just trying to get through the situation.”

Coggins said power and water should be restored around 1:30 p.m.

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