Temperatures in Hot Springs Village dipped into the low single digits early in the morning on January 16, 2024. West Village Weather Underground on Almazan Way reported a 2-degree temperature in the early morning hours. The Weather Channel report at 8:00 a.m. said the temperature was 5 degrees, with a wind chill of -7. While there are varying temperatures at different Village locations, I think we can all agree that temperatures have reached bone-chilling lows.
No Warming Centers Were Needed
While no warming centers were needed, the POA was ready in case of massive power loss. If wide-spread electrical outages occured the POA was prepared to open up to three warming centers: Coronado Community Center, Woodlands Auditorium, and potentially the DeSoto Recreation Building. If it does become necessary in the future to provide warming centers, the POA will make an announcement.
Winter Weather Treatment for HSV Roads
The Gazette received word from several Village residents that Village roads are in much better shape than Highway 5 or 7, and even Hot Springs.
Associate Public Services Director Broom said that before the roads are treated, “Traffic makes the conditions worse. Driving compacts the snow and makes removal more difficult. Even when we plow some roads, we are unable to get down to the blacktop, based off of the compacted layer of frozen ice and snow. We will tear the snow blades up, trying to plow to the blacktop.” Receiving wet precipitation may help loosen the frozen sections and aids with the plowing.
“The treatment product is beginning to work; it is just so cold that it will take some time,” explained the Associate Director.
“We have the roads pretty much under control. Traffic has been great,” stated Broom. He estimated that around 10 vehicles went off of the road. This is an improvement over the previous inclement weather event where over 30 vehicles were involved in accidents.
HSV Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Todd Noles said, “The POA does not use salt on the roads. Salt does not work when temperatures dip below 15 degrees. Instead, we use a crystal magnesium chloride mixture, in pellet form, mixed with sand. The sand used is not the same sand used on the golf courses. Golf course sand has finer particles, while the sand used on the roads is concrete-grade sand with a coarser texture. The chemical/sand mixture works to 15 degrees below zero. We cannot treat every stretch in the Village, as we do not have enough treatment mixture in stock. Our main concern is with our major arterial roads and our usual problem areas. We live in the Ouachita Mountains and have hills and dips and try to treat accordingly.”
Noles continued, “The treatment mixture is pet and environmentally friendly and will not harm vehicles.”
Broom enthusiastically stated, “It has been a great group effort. First responders have been amazing in responding to vehicles that slid off the road and keeping the community safe. The Street Department has been magnificient, working around the clock and stayed ahead of the situation the entire time. They kept our main roads very passable.”
Road crews will not be working overnight, but still remain on call to be ready if they need to respond to something.
Giving accolades to the Street Department Maintenance Crew, Noles said he is extremely proud of all of their hard work and dedication to stay on top of the road situation, helping to make the roads safe and accessible to residents. The crews have worked hard around the clock since noon on Sunday, January 14.
Buildings
There have been no major problems with the POA buildings
Hot Springs Village Public Services Stays Diligent
Broom said, “We are monitoring the weather for Thursday, [January 18]. The forecast calls for freezing rain and ice on Thursday morning. This is one of the scenarios where it is going to get worse before it gets better.” Over the next couple of days we expect daytime high temperatures to cause melting and overnight low temperatures to result in freezing. “We are expecting worse traffic conditions later in the week than the first part of the week.”
The road crews will probably come in very early Thursday morning.
POA Schedule
The POA Administration office is open today, Tuesday, January 16 on its regular schedule (8 am – 4:30 pm). All other POA facilities remain closed today with the exception of the Coronado Fitness Center, which had a 9:00 am delayed opening. All golf courses will be closed today and Wednesday. After that, check with the Tee Times office or the website. Pickleball and Tennis are closed today.
Trash service is suspended until further notice! (Please see the latest POA Winter Weather notice below.)
Revised Trash Pickup Schedule (January 15-20)
This revised trash pickup schedule was taken from a POA eblast. Watch your email for any possible changes or updates.
Monday pickup will be on Wednesday.
Tuesday pickup will be on Thursday.
Wednesday pickup will be on Friday.
Thursday pickup will be on Saturday.
There will be no special pickup services this week.
Trails Committee Meeting Postponed
Trail Committee Meeting was postponed to Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. at the Coronado Community Center.
Coronado Fitness Center Update
The facility will CLOSE at 5 PM today, January 16th. OPEN at 8 AM Wednesday, January 17th. Contact the Coronado Fitness Center at 501.922.1230 with any questions.
By Cheryl Dowden; images courtesy of Matt Broom and Todd Noles
This article was edited at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16, to add the latest POA Winter Weather Update.
WINTER WEATHER UPDATE
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
4:00 pm Status Report
ATTENTION VILLAGERS!s
Here’s the latest update from the POA emergency operations team….. Our biggest concern remains the severe cold, which will continue for at least several days.
Due to the weather, the county transfer station, where the POA must take our trash for disposal, has temporarily closed down. Therefore, sanitation (trash pick up) is suspended until further notice. We anticipate a return to normal scheduling next week, during which time the POA will do its best to accommodate any trash overflow caused by the delay.
The POA still requests that for their own safety, residents avoid traveling on our roads whenever possible. POA employees have been working around the clock sanding and plowing the main roads within the Village but side roads remain snowy and icy.
Note the following roads are still closed and will remain so until further notice: Balearic Road from Coronado Drive to Reata Way, Barcelona Road between Tomino Way and Villano Lane, and Fresno Road between Alicante Road and Carmona Road.
The POA main office is open on its regular schedule (8 am – 4:30 pm). The Coronado Fitness Center will have an 8 am delayed opening. All golf courses will be closed Wednesday. After that, check with the Tee Times office or the website. Pickleball and Tennis remain closed tomorrow.
Movie Night at the Woodlands, scheduled for tonight (Tuesday) is delayed until next week – same day of the week, same time.
Click Here for the list of restaurants inside the gates with their phone numbers. Please call ahead to see if they’re open.
Temperatures will continue to remain very low for the next few days so please don’t forget to protect your home by dripping one or two inside faucets overnight, disconnecting any hoses from outdoor faucets, covering outdoor faucets and making sure the lid to your water meter is securely closed. If you have a water emergency, please call the main offices (501-922-5556) during the day or 501-922-1323 for nights and weekends.
For any non-emergency issues, please reach out to Public Services via the form provided online. The emails from this form go to every Public Services superintendent plus Matt Broom and Ken Unger. It also creates a record for PS to track what’s happened.
Stay tuned for further updates – and please stay off the roads whenever possible! Stay warm and stay safe!
Contact Information for HSVPOA Associate Director of Public Services
Matt Broom
Email: mbroom@hsvpoa.org
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