MULBERRY, Ark. — Early last week, areas around Franklin County flooded due to heavy rainfall in a short amount of time.
"I've never had 18 inches [of rain] in the building," Ty Floyd said. "I've never had it knock pedestals over and have whole trees floating through the park. Nothing like that."
Ty and his wife Kristy Floyd said they put almost all of their money into opening and running Mulberry River Outdoor Adventures.
The campground, situated along parts of the Mulberry River, offers customers a place to park their RVs and take advantage of the surrounding nature. They said last week’s rain caused the Mulberry River to rise over 20 feet.
They said it was the most water on their land that they had ever seen.
"They said it was going to crest at 14 feet, and it crested at 22," Ty said. "I was just grateful to be down here and get everybody moved and no one got hurt. Nothing major was lost."
The Floyds said they spent all day last Monday and Tuesday working to secure everyone's equipment. They said they watched tree stumps and other debris float along what should have been the campground.
"We moved them up to this section first, thinking that would be safe," Ty said. "That lasted about four hours, and then it started to flood this area, so we had to move the RVs again up further to higher ground."
The Floyds said they will need to still work to gravel a lot of the land that was washed up. Amid the flooding chaos, Ty said he was moved by the community members who helped them recover.
"I came in at one point and I had to walk out of the room because I started to tear up watching just all these people help clean," Ty said. "And the phone calls, all these people calling and friends saying, 'Hey, we'll come from Kansas and bring you equipment.'"
The Floyds said November is usually a busy month for business and hope to get the campground back to 100%.
"My favorite thing is to watch these families make memories," Ty said. “It warms my heart. That’s really the heart behind it all."
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